This Year's Model
by Andreax
Summary: Rodgers brings some autopsy reports to Goren, hoping he'll see the connection that she does.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

This Year's Model

**Title: This Year's Model **

**Author: ****Andrea**

**Rating: M **

**Category: Goren/Eames romance. Eames POV **

**Disclaimer: Goren, Eames, Deakins, Rodgers and Carver aren't mine. The rest are **

**Timeline: Season 4**

**Notes: Thank you Dan, Karen, Julie and Dani for the beta reading! **

**Summary: Goren and Eames look into deaths that Rodgers thinks are connected **

**Spoilers: none**

I was surprised when I walked into the squad room on Wednesday morning and found Rodgers sitting at my desk. She had four files stacked in front of her and I could see Goren was reading a fifth. I was immediately irritated. Not because Rodgers was at my desk but because I felt like I was being excluded. Did no one realize that I, in fact, was the senior partner?

"Eames," Goren nodded a smile at me as I slowed by his desk. "Sorry to start without you but Rodgers doesn't have much time."

"No problem," I lied. "Something up?"

"Well, _I_ think so," Rodgers sounded perturbed. "But I can't get anyone to listen to me."

"And you thought we would?" I cocked my head at her.

"Well," her eyes flicked toward Goren.

"Oh," I understood immediately. "You thought my partner would. I'll leave you to it," I picked my cup up from my desk and turned on my heel.

"Eames, wait," I could hear the frustration in Goren's voice.

"I need coffee," I answered without turning around.

I took my time pouring my coffee, hoping that Rodgers would be gone when I got back. I gave a quiet sigh of relief when I re-entered the squad room and saw my chair was empty. I took a sip of coffee as I sat down so I wouldn't have to address what I thought would be an awkward moment, but Goren dove straight in.

"Eames, if Rodgers didn't have to get back to the morgue, you know I would've waited for you."

"She didn't want to talk to me anyway," I shrugged and placidly took another sip of my coffee.

"She tried talking to the original investigating officers, she tried the DA, she tried the Chief Medical Officer, she even tried the Feds, but nobody wanted to hear what she was saying. And, don't take this the wrong way, Eames, 'cause it's saved me more times than I can count, but you go by the book. Would you even have considered looking at a case she brought straight to you?"

I hate it when he's right.

"I hate it when you're right," I could feel my resentment draining away.

His face brightened into a smile at my admission. My solar plexus tingled in response. I hate it when he does that to me, too, but I kept that one to myself.

"I don't know what you're grinning about," I shook my head at him. "It sounds like upstairs has already decided there's no case here."

"There's a case here, Eames," Goren scooped up the files and nodded toward the interview room. "Let me show you."

It didn't take me long to see it. There was definitely a pattern, but it was the time span and geography that were the problem.

"I see it too, Bobby, but five murders in four states over twelve years...if it was a serial, there would be more. And we only have jurisdiction in two," I pointed out the most relevant issue.

I was so focused on his eyes as they scanned the files I didn't notice right away that Captain Deakins had appeared in the doorway. Goren's eyes followed mine when I finally noticed him standing there.

"Care to share with the rest of the class?"

"Can we have a few days first, Captain?" Goren started closing the files.

"I can't make any promises. If I need you somewhere else these cold cases will have to wait. Understood?"

There was only one acceptable answer to that question.

"Yes sir," Goren nodded in assurance.

"I'd rather hear that assurance from your partner," Deakins looked at me.

"We can back burner this whenever you say," I nodded.

Besides Goren, Deakins was the only person who treated me like the senior partner on a daily basis. I respected him for that and I respected Goren for never blinking an eye at it. I never pulled rank, with him or anyone else. Goren was always the one who said something when it needed to be said. That thought made me wonder if he'd said anything to Rodgers.

"When do you think we should mention that we don't have jurisdiction in all of these?" Goren lowered his voice to ask me once Deakins had walked away.

"We'll need more ammunition than this," I laughed ruefully. "But I have some questions first," I changed the subject quickly. "I understand these two," I picked up the two cases from the city, "But how did Rodgers come across these," I nodded toward the other three, "And even these two?" I held up the files in my hand. "They're twelve years apart. How did she make the connection?"

"This one," he pulled the 1992 case out of my hand, "was one of the first posts she ever assisted on with the NYPD."

"I guess your first rape/torture stays with you," I recalled the grisly details.

"You know how it is, Eames. There are some cases you can never get out of your head," he agreed. "So when a similar one showed up six months ago, alarm bells went off."

"But she didn't find any other cases in the city?" I wondered aloud.

"Nope."

"And how did she find the other three?"

"She asked some M.E.s she knows if they had any similar cases. When she got three more hits, she thought someone would listen."

"Yup, we're definitely gonna need more than this to get Deakins on board...and in the city," I cautioned.

"And in a couple of days," he didn't sound confident.

"Then I guess we'll have to divide and conquer," I started gathering up the files.

I photocopied what Rodgers had left us and hunkered down at my desk with my laptop. Goren headed over to the library in the off chance there were cases older than Rodgers' twelve year old one that were reported in the papers and were now stored on microfiche.

It took me about two hours but I found one. A body had turned up across the river in Jersey but they'd found a Manhattan club stamp on her hand. I was just picking up my cell to call Goren when it rang, startling me. It was him. How the hell did he do that?

"I got one, Eames." he dispensed with any sort of greeting. "About six months before the first one Rodgers has and it was on Staten Island."

"'91? And no one connected it to a case in Manhattan six months later?" I was incredulous.

"I don't have to dig any deeper to know why, Eames. I'll lay odds that the detectives who caught these cases were old school. Sure there were computers, but did anyone over 40 take them seriously? These guys probably took one look at the vics and assumed it was some kind of domestic - boyfriend loses it on his pretty girlfriend and when they can't make their case against the boyfriend, it just goes cold."

"I remember dealing with dinosaurs like that," I shuddered at the memory. "Never mind that computers didn't belong in policing. A woman? Perish the thought. Unless, of course, she's undercover in Vice."

"Some of those dinosaurs aren't extinct yet, Eames," he reminded me. "We'll still need more than this to take to Deakins," he sounded deflated.

"I found one in Jersey," I informed him almost gleefully.

"We need another one in the city," he reminded me.

"It is!" I assured him. "Let's meet for lunch and I'll explain."

As we ate, I explained to Goren that the victim in the case I'd found had been discovered across the river in Union City in November of 2001 with a very exclusive Manhattan club stamp on her hand.

"I wonder if the Jersey cops even tried to bring it to us?" Goren wiped his mouth. He always finished before I did.

"If they did, it probably just got buried on someone's desk. Or maybe they thought we had enough going on." I had to wonder how many murders had gone under the radar in the aftermath of 9-11.

"This is definitely enough to take to Deakins now," Goren began to slide out of the booth.

"Can I finish my lunch first?" I shook my head at him in disbelief.

"Sorry, I'll call and see when he's free."

Deakins couldn't fit us in until 4 which gave us enough time to lay out the mishmash of cases into a fairly obvious pattern. In Deakins' office, I did the talking. Sometimes in his enthusiasm Goren lost people, occasionally even me.

"If Rodgers hadn't assisted on that post..." Deakins shook his head when I'd finished. "And without the other two cases you found, you both know I wouldn't even have considered touching this."

Neither Goren nor I said a word.

"By all rights, this case belongs to the fibbies," he cautioned.

"Rodgers took it to the Feds," I reminded him. "They blew her off."

"Well, they'd take it now."

Goren and I both began to protest, but Deakins raised his hand to shut us up.

"Talk about a dog with a bone," he shook his head again and began to chew his cheek as he thought. "I'll warn you right now that if you start looking into the out of state cases someone is going to notice and they'll yank the rug right out from under you."

"The four cases we have jurisdiction in should be more than enough to make some serious headway. There are more cases out there – I know there are." Goren tried to appease him.

"I'm just warning you that if you ring that bell, I won't be able to unring it for you."

"We understand, sir," Goren stood up. "We'll tread carefully."

"We'll tread carefully?" I looked at Goren in disbelief once we were out of Deakins' earshot. "When have you ever treaded carefully?"

"That's why I have you," he smiled at me. "You keep me in check. You're the Yin to my Yang, Eames. That's why we're so good together," his smile broadened.

I wished he wasn't talking about work.

"And you're going to listen to me when I tell you you're going too far?" I didn't believe it for an instant.

"I will if you say something that will catch my attention immediately," he offered.

"Like a safe word?" I laughed.

"Don't laugh, that's exactly what we need. It's to keep the case safe, right?" he shrugged.

"And your ass," I chuckled. "Maybe we should use one all the time. And it's usually the person at risk who uses the safe word."

"I'll let you be in charge of my safety, Eames. I don't trust anyone else with it."

"You say that now, but are you really going to listen to me when I say stop?"

"I want this case, Eames, but you know what I'm like when I get inside my own head."

"I want this case, too, but I'm not taking on the Feds, Bobby. So we do this my way, understood?"

"Got it," he gave me his best innocent little boy look.

I was still unconvinced. I gave him a day or two at best before he pissed off the wrong person and our hard work was handed over to the Feds on a silver platter.

"So what word are we going to use?" he was still wearing his innocent look.

"You really want a safe word?" I thought the dressing down was the end of it.

"If you need to keep me on a leash to make this work, so be it."

"Can we please dispense with the top and bottom euphemisms," I was becoming exasperated. "When I say enough, it means enough."

"Okay, no means no," his boyish innocence was changing into a grin.

"Call Rodgers," I ignored his attempt at humor. "And I always have you on a leash," I muttered.

Rodgers wanted to celebrate so Goren told her to meet us at his favorite off duty, Kinney's, at 7:30. I hadn't intended to join them but Goren wanted to make sure Rodgers knew this was a team effort.

I quietly sipped my martini while Goren explained to Rodgers how we were handling the case. I thought she might want the Feds to take it now that we'd put more of the pieces together.

"Fuck'em," Rodgers brushed them aside with her hand, almost making me snort martini through my nose. "They had their chance. I have no problem keeping my mouth shut."

I raised my eyebrows at that, which didn't go unnoticed.

"I can when I need to, Detective Eames. I don't think I'm the one you should be worried about," she nodded towards Goren.

"She's already read me the riot act. I've promised to walk softly. She'll have the big stick," Goren assured her.

"Good luck with that," she laughed at me. After finishing her drink she slid out from beside Goren. "Will you keep me updated?" her tone had become serious. "I can't get this one out of my head."

"Of course," I promised.

"And you're going to stop by tomorrow morning to go over the new ones?" Goren confirmed.

"I'll be there with bells on," she fluttered her hand at us as she left the bar.

"One more?" Goren asked, noting my empty glass. "Review our strategy?"

After we spoke to Rodgers we would request the case files for the four New York cases. All we'd seen so far were the autopsy reports. How long it would take to go through the case files was completely dependent on how thorough the original investigating officers had been. Then we'd track down those officers to find out if there was anything that didn't make it into the case files. Then the part I hated the most, we'd talk to friends and family.

"Do you think he's been inside part of the time or do you think he's been active all of this time?" I wondered aloud.

"There isn't more than a couple of years between any of the cases we have. If he was inside, it wasn't for long," Goren pointed out.

"A serial active in the city for this long and we're just figuring it out now?" The thought sent a chill through me. How had no one seen it?

"Some profilers think there are serials who never get caught. Look at all the missing person cases. Who's to say some of them aren't victims of a serial killer? You can't feel guilty about it, Eames. We've been closing our share of cases."

"Get out of my head, Bobby," I glared at him and then drained the rest of my drink.

"You've been stomping all over my gray matter all day, Eames. I guess we can safely say this partnership is working. If we didn't know each other inside out, we wouldn't be able to work effectively."

"Yeah, I guess," I agreed as I stood up, "And we'll have to..." I began but the room started to spin.

"On two drinks?" Goren laughed as he put a hand on my shoulder to steady me.

"I haven't really been drinking a lot recently, you know, with the pregnancy and everything," I gave my head a shake. "I was warned that I'd lose my tolerance, but two drinks?" I was embarrassed.

"I'll take you home," he chuckled.

"I doubt I'd even blow over and I can barely walk," I took the arm he offered me.

We hadn't gone more than a couple of blocks when I began to feel queasy. All I could do was groan.

"Okay, my place is closer," Goren took the next right.

I managed to preserve a small smidgen of my dignity by making to Goren's bathroom before I threw up.

"On two drinks," I repeated, shaking my head as I joined him on the couch.

"You used to be able to hold your own against me," he grinned.

"Don't rub it in," I yawned.

"Take the bed," he nodded toward his room. "I'll take the couch. I'll be up for a while yet."

"You'll never fit in this couch," I protested.

"I fall asleep here all the time. Go."

"Are you sure?" I felt guilty.

"Go!" he ordered. "And I don't really fit that well in the bed either," he called after me.

As soon as I crawled into the bed I knew it was mistake. I was enveloping myself in Goren. I spent most of my existence trying not to think about my partner this way and here I was, lying in his bed, in my underwear, breathing in his scent. I could imagine the sheets brushing against my skin were his hands gently caressing me. How was I ever going to get to sleep?


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

My whopping two martinis must have been enough to overwhelm my desire because I woke up to complete darkness. There was no light coming in under the door and all I could hear besides the pounding in my head was the usual city background noise. I turned on the light to see, which made my head throb even more. Goren had left a glass of water and some Advil on the nightstand for me. And I wondered why I was in love with this man. I practically guzzled the water after taking two Advil.

Goren had also put a robe at the bottom of the bed. Even though I could wrap it around myself twice, it was better than dashing to his bathroom in my lacy red boy shorts and matching bra. To be taken seriously in Major Case, I had to appear almost asexual. Pretty underwear was how I held onto my femininity. This time I thought it would be my pounding headache that would keep me up but before I knew it, I was waking up to sunlight streaming into Goren's bedroom. I pulled on yesterday's clothes and made my way to the bathroom. The apartment seemed very quiet and I wondered if Goren was still asleep. It didn't take me long once I'd left the bathroom to realize he was gone. I was still trying to process the fact that he'd left when I heard the deadbolt sliding.

"Coffee?" he held up the tray. "How are you feeling?"

"Mostly embarrassed," I rolled my eyes. "I really need that coffee. Thank you", I breathed as I pulled it from the tray.

"Self-defense," he winked at me. "I have to work with you today."

"Right, I'm the one that's hard to get along with," I scoffed. "But I really do appreciate the coffee. And the water and Advil were a Godsend!"

"No problem,'" he smiled. "In the interest of time," Goren changed the subject, "How about I drive you to your place and wait while you shower."

"Works for me," I agreed and grabbed my purse.

It was weird showering with Goren sitting in my living room. I've probably never gotten ready that fast in my entire life.

Rodgers was leaning against Goren's desk when we walked into the squad room. If she thought it was odd that we were coming in together, she made no indication. On the other hand, I noticed right away that she wasn't sitting in my chair.

"Here they are," she handed me the autopsy reports on the cases we'd found the day before.

She was treating me like the senior partner! Goren had said something.

When I glanced over at him to confirm, he met my eyes, but I couldn't quite make out what was behind them, but that look alone was enough to make my heart race. I wished I could tell what he was thinking the way he could read me.

Rodgers had apparently said something because both of them were now looking at me as if waiting for me to speak.

"Do you have time?" Goren jumped in for me.

"A few minutes," she nodded.

Goren retrieved the other files from his desk drawer and headed to the interrogation room. He glanced back at his shoulder at me, another indecipherable look on his face.

Shit! Was it any surprise that people deferred to him? Rodgers must have thought I was a complete idiot, or at least was suffering from some hearing loss.

The autopsy reports on the 1991 case, Carolann Moffat, and the 2001 case, Sylvie Gagnon, confirmed that the new cases were part of the pattern we'd seen the day before with Charmaine Willis and Simone Saunders. The restraint marks were the same, from the lividity pattern it was clear they'd been positioned in the same way when they died, but Sylvie's body had been moved once lividity was fixed. Our guy had also refined his technique. It had taken him more than one try to strangle Carolann Moffat. There were three ligature marks to attest to that. Sylvie Gagnon only had one. Both had premortem cuts to the face, breasts, abdomen and inner thigh, but the cuts to Carolann were ragged. The blade that had inflicted Sylvie's wounds had been very sharp.

"Do you know the M.E. For Union City?" Goren asked Rodgers as she gathered up the files. We could keep copies, but she had to take any originals back.

"Ya, misogynistic creep," she grimaced.

"And you asked him to look for this pattern?" I was curious.

"In person, at a conference. He said he would, but I'm not surprised," her disgust was evident in her voice.

"Okay, when we know something, you'll know something," Goren promised as we stood up.

"Can you start requesting the case files, Goren?" I asked once Rodgers was gone. "I've got a hunch."

The recent cases would be in the department database but the two early cases would still be on paper. It would probably be faster to search the records ourselves but we were doing this by the book.

When Goren was finished, he rolled his chair over to my desk to see what I was doing. "What parameters did you use?" he asked when he saw the list of names I'd written down and the database I was searching. I could hear printer in the corner busily printing out every case I'd selected. This was one database that was updated regularly.

"Height, weight, age, sex, race and profession," I told him as I selected another name.

"Profession?" his curiosity mounted.

"Our vics have been between 5'9" and 5'11" and underweight. Any profession spring to mind?"

"He's hunting models!" Goren slapped my desk.

Several pairs of eyes in the squad room turned to look at us.

"He's hunting models in New York City, Bobby. It's like shooting fish in a barrel, but there's more..."

I walked over to grab the printouts. "Check out the dates – the months," I instructed as I handed him stack of pages.

"September, February, February," Goren read the months off as he flipped through the papers. "September, September, February. I don't get it, Eames. What's significant about these months?"

"Fashion week," I informed him.

"The city is overrun with models," Goren's eyes were wide. "That's not hunting. That's cherry picking. No wonder no one ever noticed," he rubbed his forehead. "One model goes missing during fashion week, cops would argue she'd just flitted off to a party somewhere without telling anyone," he sighed heavily. "Wait, wait," he stood up suddenly and grabbed his notes from his desk. "The Union City case doesn't fit. She was killed in November."

"Oh, but it does fit, Bobby," I was positively jubilant. "There was no Fashion Week in New York in September 2001."

"Of course there wasn't," he nodded. "So our guy had to adapt." He put the stack of missing persons reports on my desk and looked at me quizzically. "I had no idea you followed fashion so closely, Eames."

"I'm not sure if I should be insulted by that or not," I laughed, "But Fashion Week is held in Bryant Park, Bobby. I have to take a different route to work when it's on."

"Right," he nodded. I could tell from his expression that he'd already moved on.

"I think we should for now focus on Sylvie Gagnon, Eames. The one where he was forced outside of his usual pattern will tell us a lot."

"Here's something I didn't know about Fashion Week," I'd switched from the missing persons database to a Google search. "Fashion Week wasn't held at Bryant Park until 1994 and before that it was called Press Week. That might make earlier cases harder to investigate. Press Week had events spread out all over the city."

"Then I bet '94 is when his pattern really gelled. He must have an in, but barely. He isn't taken very seriously or he fades into the background," Goren sat down again. "That '91 case..."

"Carolann Moffat," I interjected.

"It was different, too - early," Goren was getting into his own head already. "If she was the first, Eames, there could be a lot there, too."

"Sylvie is more recent," I reminded him.

"What do we know about her?" He looked at me to fill in the details.

"She was 20, a French-Canadian. I don't have much else. You should have access to her to file. What does it say?"

Goren rolled back to his desk to check his laptop. "Your first instinct was right, Eames. There's not a lot here. Her parents claimed her body and took her back to Montreal. It talks about where she was found, state of the body, what she was wearing. That's how they knew it wasn't a robbery. She still had her shoes. The dress was destroyed, but the shoes were undamaged. There isn't anything else here. I guess we need to talk to..." Goren paused as he scanned the file, "Detective Kendrick."

Kendrick worked out of the 27th precinct. The 2-7 had a solid reputation, but certainly not because of Steve Kendrick. He was the kind of cop that made us all look bad. His desk was a mess, his shirt was rumpled and there was a mustard stain on his tie.

"What was that case again?" he asked Goren as we pulled chairs up to his desk. We had spoken to him two hours earlier after clearing it with his Lieutenant, Anita Van Buren. Goren had been about to contact him directly until I reminded him that we were going by the book.

"Sylvie Gagnon," Goren reminded him.

I could already feel the tension emanating from Goren. Kendrick hadn't even bothered to look at his notes before we arrived. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lieutenant Van Buren get up from her desk. I looked back at Goren. He was starting to get twitchy. I had to defuse this quickly. I took our file with Sylvie's picture and autopsy report and handed it to Kendrick.

"This is Sylvie," I told him. As I sat back down, I turned my head toward Goren. "Easy," I breathed in his ear.

"Detectives," Van Buren greeted us with a smile.

"Right," Kendrick nodded. "I remember this one. A pro dumped in Jersey right after 9-11."

"A pro," Goren repeated. His blink rate was up.

"Ya, I guess she pissed off her pimp. Her parents wouldn't believe it," he shrugged. "Easier when the trash take care of each other," he winked at Goren.

"A pro in Jimmy Choo shoes and a Donna Karan dress." Goren clarified.

"Huh?" Kendrick was lost.

Goren moved on without explaining. "Eames, you worked Vice. What do you know about pimps?"

"Pimps are too lazy to do any real work. If they need to straighten one of their girls out, they usually just smack her around, but cut her? That's Hollywood, that would damage his goods - face, breasts, thighs? No way a pimp would cut a girl like that. If he really wanted her dead, he'd use a hot shot. Coroner would rule it an OD. A pimp looks for the easiest way out. Cutting a girl up? That's messy. Dumping her in Jersey? Especially after 9-11, that takes planning. I've never met a pimp with that kind of work ethic."

At that point I couldn't tell who was angrier, Goren or Van Buren. Van Buren was better at hiding it. I thought Goren was going to wear a hole in his leather binder he was hitting it so hard with his pen. When Van Buren rounded Kendrick's desk to look at Sylvie's file, I snatched Goren's pen and touched his hand quickly. He turned to look at me, his blink rate slowed as I looked into eyes, pleading with him silently to calm down.

"Maybe I read it wrong," Kendrick seemed unphased. "Everyone was under a lot of pressure then."

"Well, thanks for your time," I smiled as I stood up. "If you remember anything else, will you let us know?"

"Of course, Detective Eames," Van Buren handed the file back to me.

"Why the interest in this one, anyway?" Kendrick wanted to know.

"She's Canadian. Quebec Provincial Police asked if there was any progress with her case. We caught it." Goren turned his head slowly to look at me as I lied.

"Well, I'm sorry we couldn't be of more help," Van Buren looked sincerely apologetic.

Goren and I walked out of the squad room silently so I had no problem overhearing Van Buren telling Kendrick she wanted to see him in her office. I wondered if she'd explain who Jimmy Choo and Donna Karan were.

"Eames?" Goren began once we were in the stairwell. "Which book was that from? I'd really like a copy."

"That's your problem, Goren. You can't tell what crosses the line and what doesn't. You don't even know where the line is, or you don't care. Van Buren is so disgusted with Kendrick right now, her focus will be on him. And my lie was completely plausible," I smiled smugly.

When we got to the landing, Goren stopped and blocked my progress by putting his arm on the railing on my side of the stairs. He took another step down so we were standing basically eye to eye.

"Thank you," his warm brown eyes answered the question in my eyes. "I wanted to knock that stupid look off that ignorant waste of skin's face."

"You were twitching so much I thought you were going to fly apart. Why do you let it get to you?" I wanted to pull him into my arms and never let him go.

"He's supposed to be one of the good guys, Eames. He's supposed to protect people like Sylvie, not write her off as a whore." The warmth in Goren's eyes had turned to sorrow.

"We'll do everything we can for her, Bobby, for all of these women." I did the best I could to ease his mind. He let himself get more personally invested in every case than any cop I'd ever known and I knew a lot of cops. I'd been surrounded by them all of my life.

"I know we will, Eames" the cloud began to lift from his brow. "Now can I have my pen back?" he held out his hand.

When we got back to One Police Plaza, we had to regroup. We were both still convinced that Sylvie Gagnon could tell us more than any of the other victims but the lack of investigation into her case was making everything harder than we'd anticipated.

"We need to know more about Sylvie Gagnon" Goren saw no other choice. "How's your French?"

"Mine? That's your department, Bobby," I laughed.

"I think a phone call to her parents asking tough questions would be better coming from a woman," he began to explain.

"We're doing this by the book, remember?" I cut him off. "That means we find out exactly where her parents live and find out if we need to talk to the Montreal city cops or the Surete du Quebec," I'm sure my pronunciation was off. "We talk to them – they talk to the parents, after we clear it with Deakins."

"How long will that take?" Goren looked frustrated.

"It'll be faster than waiting for Kendrick to remember something," I pointed out. "And better for this case than Deakins finding out that we'd upset a victim's family by asking them personal questions in mangled French."

"I hate the book," he grumbled. "It doesn't feel like we accomplished anything today."

"We know who he targets and that he's smart enough to wait until Fashion Week," I reminded him.

"That's something, I guess," he sighed.

"It's after 5, Goren. We'll take this to Deakins in the morning and get his okay to talk to the Quebec cops, okay? I'll call Rodgers and let her know that it's models."

"Okay," he closed his case and zipped it up.

"Are you up for another drink?" he asked once I was off the phone.

"You trust me to have another drink?" I laughed.

"Maybe one," he smiled. My car was still in the lot by the bar, so Goren drove. We hadn't gone far when I realized we weren't going to his local.

"Where are we going?" I was curious.

"There's another place I've always wanted to try," he shrugged.

It wasn't the route I normally took but we were definitely heading the direction of my place. I was convinced he was driving me home until he stopped in an Italian neighborhood a couple of miles from my place.

"I heard this place was kinda cool," he looked to see if I approved.

"Okay," I shrugged and got out of the car.

Inside was very dark. The bar itself was mahogany with brass accents; the rug was dark, maybe brown, maybe burgundy. The smoking ban had been in effect for over a year but it smelled like someone had been smoking in here the previous night.

"Get a booth," Goren nodded toward the back of the bar. "I'll get our drinks."

When I saw the booths close up I knew what Goren was talking about. The seats and backs were red leather but above the back of the seat, an ornately carved partition rose almost to the ceiling. Any conversation held here would be extremely private. It was very Rat Pack.

Goren joined me more quickly than I expected. Our drinks usually took longer to mix. I don't know what surprised me more, the fact that Goren slid in beside me or the glass he handed me.

"What's this?" I held up the glass. It looked like ginger ale.

"Ginger ale," he replied.

"Why did you get me ginger ale?" I was very confused. Goren knew what I drank.

"I want you sober," he was looking at me intently.

"You want me sober!" I was incredulous.

"If I ask you something, will you be honest with me?" His tone was very warm. I didn't recognize it.

"Of course, but I would've been honest with a martini, too," I was still confused.

He edged a little closer to me and angled his body so he was facing me more. Our knees were now touching. He put his arm on the back of the seat and leaned toward me. "How long has it been?"

"How long has what been?" His closeness was making me very warm. He didn't answer, but he was watching me closely. My mind was racing. I didn't know what he was thinking. He wanted me sober? He bought me a ginger ale? He wanted me to be honest about how long it had been?

"Do you think I'm an alcoholic?" It was the first thing that sprang to my mind.

He threw his head back and laughed. "No, Eames, you might be a cheap drunk now, but I know you're not an alcoholic. That's not what I meant."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

He tilted his head at me as he looked into my eyes. "Yes, you do." His voice had that warm tone that was making my palms sweaty.

"I'm not one of your suspects, Bobby. You can't make me confess when I have nothing to confess to," I had no idea what was going on.

"Alex," he began, making my stomach flip flop at his use of my first name. "All I want to know is how long you've had feelings for me."

"I, I..." I sputtered. It felt like my heart was going to pound out of my chest and I could barely breathe.

"Okay, I'll go first," he leaned closer. "I'll admit that I noticed how attractive you are right away but my feelings must have crept on me because it wasn't until I had to work with Bishop that I realized I was in love with you."

My eyes were glued to his. I think my mouth was hanging open. I couldn't believe what he was telling me.

"I also knew it wasn't the best time for true confessions, so I just put my feelings away and waited. Now, please tell me, when did you realize?"

"I don't know, a couple of months maybe," I couldn't think straight.

He finished closing the distance between us and softly brushed his lips against mine. I opened my mouth to let him explore. When his tongue gently swept my bottom lip, I sighed into his mouth and began to return his kisses. Our kissing quickly deepened. His hand had moved to the back of my head, his fingers tangling in my hair so he could turn my head to the angle he wanted. I melted against him. I could feel that his breathing was as labored as mine. I was trying to work out how I was going to get into his lap when he pulled away. I felt the loss instantly.

"Your place," he said, still breathing heavily. It wasn't a question.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The walk to his car was a blur. He started driving away before I was belted in. Not only did the drive seem to take forever but it felt like there was a chasm between us. I wanted to undo my seat belt again and press myself up against him, like a teenager.

Goren found a spot across the street from my house and pulled in quickly. We hadn't spoken since we left the bar, but I was positive we were of one mind. I had my keys out of my purse before we crossed the street. As we headed up the stairs, Goren reached for my hand and held it tightly, like he was worried he was going to lose me. As soon as I opened the deadbolt, Goren flung the door open and pulled me inside. Once he'd shut the door and locked it again, he dropped the keys on the floor and pushed me up against the wall.

"Don't need these," he first took his gun, then mine and put them on the table beside the door.

Definitely not by the book, but I didn't give at rat's ass at that moment. I wasn't given much time to think about it, anyway. His mouth was on mine, like he wanted to devour me. Our hands tugged at each other's clothing as we struggled to get closer. My jacket, then his, began forming a pile near our feet. I kicked off my shoes as I fought with his tie, but he'd already managed to unbutton my blouse. He broke free of our kiss and stepped back to look.

"Mmm," he smiled, his brown eyes had darkened. It was almost as if I could feel them burning into me. "Nice," he breathed, running his finger along the lace trim of my bra. I was glad I'd chosen this white lacy set I'd picked up at Macy's. Goren seemed to approve.

"I don't know which I like better, this or the red one you had on yesterday."

I was reaching to pull him back into a kiss when I realized what he'd said.

"How do you know what color underwear I had on yesterday?"

He smiled and kissed my questioning lips.

"Because when I brought you water and Advil, you'd kicked the covers off." He kissed me again. "I didn't stare very long before I covered you up again, promise." He began to kiss my neck while he worked at undoing my pants. "Do you know how long it took me to get to sleep after that?" he asked breathlessly as he eased my pants over my hips.

"How long?" I finally had his tie off.

"I had to take a shower," he leaned back to watch me step out of my pants and kick them to the growing pile.

"Did that help?" I stood on my tiptoes and pulled his face down to mine so I could kiss him.

"Mm, not on its own," he confessed, as he continued to kiss me.

The image of Goren masturbating while thinking of me in his bed sent a burst of heat in between my legs. I wouldn't have thought it was possible to get any more aroused than I already was. My legs started to feel wobbly, but Goren picked me up before my knees gave in. I put my legs around him as we kissed our way to the living room. I was trying, mostly unsuccessfully, to unbutton his shirt. He tried to lower himself to the couch but my added weight unbalanced him and we fell the last foot making us laugh through our kiss, but Goren focused again quickly.

"Could you, uh, maybe kneel?" He leaned forward so I could pull my feet out from behind his back. "I want more access," he smiled as I straddled his legs on my knees.

His hands closed around my breasts, but my bra stopped me from enjoying the sensation completely. I reached behind my back to undo the clasp.

"Not yet," he breathed. "And let me do it please. I always do it when I fantasize about this."

I groaned as I once again thought about his fantasies. He slipped his finger under the fabric of my bra and ran it along my breast. Goren was taking his time. Cupping his face, I lifted it up so I could look into his eyes.

"I can't get your shirt off, Bobby. I want your skin."

I plunged my tongue into his mouth as he finished unbuttoning his shirt. When he had it off he tossed it behind the couch.

"Mmm," I breathed into his mouth as my hands went to his chest. His skin was hot and I could feel that his heart was beating as hard as mine was. I slid my hands down toward his belt but I couldn't reach. His hands were around my ribs just under my bra, holding me up so he could kiss my breasts.

"Belt," I breathed.

"Mmm," he didn't seem to hear me.

"It's digging in," I explained.

"Oh, sorry," he set me back down on his thighs and reached for his belt.

"Uh uh," I pushed his hands away. "I have fantasies too."

An indescribable sound, somewhere between a grunt and groan, escaped his mouth at my words. Our eyes locked as I began to work at the buckle. The intensity I found in his eyes made my breath catch in my throat. My heart fluttered, my hands trembled. The depths of his emotions were staggering. Goren never did anything halfway. Once I'd finished sliding the belt through the loops he grabbed my ass and pulled me back to him. His hands quickly moved to my head, but he didn't need to pull me into a kiss. I was already there.

Our kissing had begun tentatively in the bar, deepened into passion once we were alone but had evolved into the most lust-filled kissing I'd ever experienced. Our mouths were open wide. Our tongues probed, caressed and explored. We panted, moaned and groaned into each others mouths. Goren finally moved his hands to undo the clasp of my bra. I dropped my arms to get rid of it quickly, anxious to feel his hands on me.

At the first brush of his thumb across my nipple, my eyes rolled behind my closed lids. At the second, I could no longer maintain contact with his mouth. I arched my breasts toward him and let my head fall back. Goren took that opportunity to lift me so he could reach my breasts with his mouth. I was trembling with pleasure. His tongue first circled, then flicked each nipple in turn. His lips kissed and tugged. His teeth grazed. I closed my eyes and enjoyed every second.

When he finally lowered me back down to reach my mouth, not only could I feel how wet my boy shorts had become, I could feel how hard he'd become. As we kissed, I rocked my hips against him. He groaned and lifted his hips to meet me. At the next swivel of my hips, Goren grabbed my hips to stop me. He stood us up, kissing me the entire time. When my feet touched the floor, he reached to take off his pants. I eagerly helped and when he kicked them away, I got to my knees to help him with his boxers. I pushed them as far as his knees before changing my focus. I could feel him throbbing as my hand closed around his cock. He inhaled sharply when I swirled my tongue over the head. His reaction spurred me on and I took him into my mouth, using my hand to stroke his shaft.

In Goren's case, it was true what they said about men with big feet, so there was no way I could take his entire length into my mouth. Judging by his groans, he didn't seem to mind.

"Alex wait," he panted, making me stop to look up at him. My hand was still holding his cock.

"This isn't what I was planning when I got up," he brushed my hair off of my face. "I was planning to do something else."

"Didn't you ever fantasize about this?" I tickled the underside of his cock with my tongue.

"Yes," his breathing was short, his head rolled back as he spoke.

"Maybe last night?" I asked once he'd met my gaze again. As I took him back into my mouth I let my eyes tell him how much I was enjoying what I was doing.

"Definitely last night," he nodded almost drunkenly.

"I've fantasized about this too," I stopped to explain.

"You had fantasies about this?" he had difficulty forming a sentence.

"About how I could make you feel," I paused for the last time. I wanted to show him what I meant. Starting slowly, I used my lips and hand, my tongue and my teeth ever so gently. While my right hand was occupied, I used my left to caress his balls. I wanted to make Goren feel like he'd never felt before. His hands were in my hair, but he made no attempt to control my head. When I felt him getting close, I slowed my pace. I brought him close three times and backed off; by the fourth time there was no stopping. His legs were trembling, his hands clenched in my hair. He tried to say something, but it caught in his throat. His cock pulsed in my mouth as he came. I didn't release him until he stopped quaking.

"Sit" he managed to say, his voice shaky. He turned around and collapsed onto the floor, his back against the couch. I lowered myself to his lap, feeling very proud of myself. I kissed his chest and ran my hands up to his shoulders. His head was hanging back, his eyes were closed. Pulling my body up, I let my breasts drag along his skin as I moved. I began kissing his neck, his jaw line, his chin, his closed eyes. I felt Goren's hands in my hair again and he pulled me into a brief kiss.

"Sit," he patted the couch and helped me move. He got to his knees and took each of my legs in turn and put them over his shoulders. His lips went to my inner thighs, kissing me gently. I was expecting him to remove my shorts, but he tormented me like he had with my bra, kissing me through them. He teased me by running his tongue along their lace edge. When he slid his hand under me I thought he was finally going to take them off, but he pulled me forward and tilted my hips toward him. Using his free hand he simply moved my underwear aside. Keeping them there with his thumb, he began to kiss me gently. Sighing, I lifted my hips in response, freeing his hand. He used it first to caress and then to part my lips. He used that access to run his tongue along my hot flesh, stopping at my clit. First his tongue circled, then he changed to longer, slower strokes. I was groaning, my hips matching his rhythm. He first slid one, then two fingers inside of me. My arousal allowed him easy access. The added sensation was overwhelming.

"God, yes," I groaned, moving against his fingers.

I felt Goren's pleasure at my reaction as his mouth hummed against me. I don't think he planned to make me come that fast, but I'd been aroused for so long that the combination of his fingers and his tongue was more than I could take. I practically levitated off the couch as I started to climax. Goren stayed with me, keeping pressure on my clit as it pulsed against his tongue. Just as I thought my orgasm was waning, Goren repositioned his fingers and tongue sending me over the edge again.

When I finally stopped trembling he gently eased his fingers out of me and pulled me onto the floor with him. I could taste and smell myself on him as he began to kiss me. I didn't care. I was completely limp and pliable in his hands.

"Should we clean up?" He left my lips and nodded at our trail of clothes.

"No, snuggle," I pulled his head back down to mine.

"This is kissing," he smiled against my lips. "But you can call it whatever you like." He began to kiss my neck.

"After-play?" I suggested, leaning my head to give him better access to my neck.

"I hope 'in between play'," he lifted his head to look at me. "Or only the beginning play," he pressed his lips against mine again.

"Only the beginning," I agreed and snuggled against him.

He sighed and wrapped his arms tightly around me. "This is what I've wanted for so long," he breathed into my ear. "I love you."

"Bobby, I wish you'd confronted me sooner," I freed a hand to stroke his cheek. "I wish I hadn't been afraid to be honest with you."

"Doesn't matter," he leaned into my hand. "Let's look forward, not back."

"For the record, I love you too," I smiled up at him.

"I know," he smiled back, his eyes shining at me. "I know."

Bending his head toward me, he began to kiss me softly. My heart fluttered when his tongue sought entry into my mouth.

"Mmm," I reluctantly pulled out of the kiss. "I have to pee." I answered the question in his eyes.

I didn't know how much time Goren would need to recharge, but I knew I would have to pee before that happened. He helped me out of his lap but grabbed my hips to stop me once I'd turned to walk away.

"I have a question, Alex," his voice was gravelly. "Why do they call these boy shorts?"

I was surprised to feel his lips on the part of my cheek that was peeking out.

"I guess because they look more like a pair of underwear a boy might wear as opposed to what a girl normally wears," I suggested.

"I don't know about that," the tone of his voice made me tingle, "But your ass," he paused to kiss me again, "looks amazing in them."

If I hadn't needed the bathroom I would've gladly let the admiration of my rear end continue. His sigh of loss made my knees wobbly again, but I managed to cross the room without falling.

When I emerged, completely naked, Goren was standing in the hall that led to the bedroom, clad in his boxers, his arms full of our clothes. I saw him take note of my nudity. I was used to it eliciting a more positive reaction, but I knew what he was thinking.

"They were damp and cold," I explained without being asked. "Would you like me to put on a new pair?"

"Yes, please!" His eyes lit up.

"Bobby," I began as I walked past him. "Is there something you want to tell me?"

"Uh," he fell in behind me. "Like what?"

"Do you have an underwear fetish?"

"If anything, I have a 'you in underwear' fetish" I could hear the smile in his voice. "But strictly speaking, a fetish would mean that 'you in underwear' is the only possible way I could get aroused and -"

"I was kidding," I cut him off. "Do you have a color preference for your 'me in underwear' fetish?" I turned to face him once we'd reached the bedroom.

"Today I wouldn't mind red," he grinned sheepishly.

"How many pairs of red underwear do you think I have?"

"I'm hoping at least two," he sat on my bed with a pile of clothes in his arms. His eyes followed my every move.

I had to turn to open my dresser drawer, but I could still see him in the mirror.

"Why don't you get rid of the clothes?" I asked his reflection.

His eyes didn't move as he flung them toward the foot of the bed. I was surprised to see a strip of condoms land on the floor near his feet. I knew they hadn't fallen out of my pocket. He picked them up and put them on the nightstand.

"You were pretty confident," I turned with a pair of red boy shorts in my hand.

"Confident about your feelings," he nodded. "Was I confident that you would sleep with me right away? Not a hundred percent. Did I think you'd have condoms here? I knew the last time you would have been sexually active was before you agreed to surrogate for your sister, so if you did have any, I wouldn't have trusted them."

"Ya, me neither," I smiled, walking towards him, the underwear still in my hands. "When did you buy them?"

"This morning when I was out getting coffee," he was looking up at me, almost mesmerized. Anything I asked him would be answered completely honestly.

"Well, I appreciate all of the thought you put into this, Bobby, but there's one thing you overlooked," I smiled at him.

"What's that?" He tilted his head.

"I'm on the pill," I laughed. "We don't need condoms, unless there's something you should have already told me, considering what we just did."

"No, nothing," he smiled.

"Good, because I really hate condoms," I confessed. "But I have a question. Why weren't you a hundred percent sure I'd sleep with you right away?"

Shifting forward to the edge of the bed, he put his hands around my waist and pulled me close. His hands slid to my ass as he gently kissed my cleavage.

I was definitely a hundred percent sure.

"Mmm," he kissed his way around each breast. "You're pragmatic about sex, not prudish. If you wanted to sleep with me, you would," he explained.

"Kiss me," I put my hand under his chin to guide his face to mine. "That sounds like a hundred percent to me." Our conversation was punctuated by kisses.

"I'm not always right."

I couldn't help laughing. "You're right most of the time, Bobby," I broke free and stepped back. "And one hundred percent right this time." My voice betrayed just how right he was. "Most men would want to help me take these off," I held up the boy shorts with one finger. "Would you like to help me put them on?"

"Hell yes," he grabbed them from my hand and slid onto the floor.

He held them as a stepped I into them and then he slowly began to slide them up my legs. His intensity once again made my knees weak. I had to put my hand on his head and spread my feet to steady myself. Closing my eyes, I focused on the sensation of his hands caressing my calves and his warm breath caressing my thighs and then my belly as I felt his head lift up. When his lips made contact with my hip, I exhaled shakily. It didn't seem to matter where he kissed me, it felt incredible. As he continued to slide the boy shorts up, he kissed my abdomen. I gasped when I felt his tongue in the crook of my leg. I was going to make these underwear wet in no time too. He stopped mid-thigh as his tongue explored the crook of each leg thoroughly. His head then dipped suddenly and I felt his tongue between my thighs. Now, he too, knew exactly how wet I was. My pelvis tilted toward him seeming of its own accord. I needed both hands on his head to keep myself from collapsing, His hands had gone to my ass, lifting and tilting my hips for even better access. His mouth now completely enveloped my sex. His tongue probed inside of me and then moved to my already throbbing bundle of nerves. It was too much. I had to almost put my entire weight on his head as I shuddered with pleasure. Goren stopped me from climaxing again by pulling away. I whimpered at the loss of his tongue, but my mourning was cut short as he quickly finished pulling up my underwear and then turned me around. Apparently he hadn't been finished with his ass worship. His hands caressed me and his lips kissed me through the lacy fabric. His lips found any exposed skin and kissed that too. He squeezed and massaged, kissed and grazed his teeth against me. I had to spread my feet further apart to keep my balance. I felt his thumb slide in between my legs. After he slipped it into my underwear, I realized it was no accident when I felt it slide into me. If this had been anyone except Goren I would have been embarrassed at my reaction. My hips were swiveling against his thumb immediately.

"Bed," he pulled his hand away gently.

I staggered out of his way as he stood up. We didn't make it to the bed. He grabbed me and plunged his tongue into my mouth. This time I had easier access to his boxers and I pushed them out of the way quickly. I loved the feeling of his cock throbbing against me.

"Yours too," he pushed at them. Whatever the attraction to my underwear had been, it had now passed. When they were off he lifted me, turned and placed me beside the bed.

"You on top." Again, he wasn't asking. I had no complaints. I knew he wanted to watch me. I was more than okay with that.

After throwing the pillows onto the floor he sat against the headboard. His eyes were burning into me and his lips were slightly parted.

"God, Bobby," I breathed as I moved quickly to kiss those lips. Wasting no time, I straddled him. As we kissed, he guided himself into me. My mouth wanted to keep kissing him, but the rest of me wanted a different angle. Putting my hands on his shoulders, I moved my hips slowly as he finished sliding all the way in. His hands moved to just underneath my breasts as I began to rock my hips, but my eyes stayed locked on his. I wanted to watch him watch me. My pleasure rose quickly. It took every ounce of my willpower not to increase my pace and reach my orgasm quickly. Goren seemed to have me on the verge almost instantly. I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer.

"Slow is good," he was reading me even now. His knowing exactly what I was thinking only added to my delicious agony. "How long can you hold off?" he brushed my nipple with his thumb as he asked.

"Not long if you keep doing that," I groaned.

"Ya?" his tone was defiant.

My body shuddered as he then rolled my nipple between his thumb and forefinger.

"Are you trying to make me come now?" My hips moved more quickly at the feeling.

"I only got to feel your last orgasm. I want to see."

Heat surged through my body at his words. Now that he knew I was enjoying the attention he was giving my nipple, he moved his other hand to double the sensation.

"I want to see you come," he repeated, his tone rich and dark.

That was all I needed. As I ground myself against him, I felt his fingers tighten on my nipples causing my final surge and the ecstasy of release as I climaxed.

"God, yes," I groaned through gritted teeth as waves of heat and shudders coursed through me. Those shudders seemed endless. When I finally collapsed against him he didn't give me time to catch my breath. I was on my back with his eyes burning down at me.

"I officially do not have a 'you in underwear' fetish, Alex," he breathed as he slowly pulled out of me. "What arouses me most is your reaction to me – your pleasure."

I lifted my hips to meet him as he slowly entered me again, but instead of sliding all the way in, he pulled out again. He was doing it for me, what I couldn't do for myself, prolonging my joy. I'd never experienced anything like this before. I was used to more energetic sex, to say the least. Trust Goren to teach me something I didn't know about myself. I found his rhythm and matched it. Every nerve ending in my body was on fire. My hands were on his hips, my nails probably making marks in his skin. Just when I thought I could I couldn't handle the teasing anymore, he sank himself all the way in. My shoulders lifted of the bed in response. I thought he was finally going to fuck me the way I was expecting, but after that one deep stroke, he resumed his agonizingly slow pace, but I could see his willpower starting to collapse. His deep strokes were becoming more frequent. His breathing was becoming labored even though he wasn't working that hard.

"Please," I finally used my hands on his hips to pull him into me. "I didn't really get to see you come either."

It was enough to make him move at the pace I wanted, but I needed more. "Harder, please," I panted.

He complied quickly. I forced my eyes to stay open and watch him. His face was contorting in ecstasy. I watched until my own orgasm washed over me. Goren covered my mouth and kissed me hungrily as we came. We were both panting as he rolled to his side and pulled me onto mine. He continued to kiss me softly as our breathing slowed.

"Snuggle," Goren sighed and pulled me closer. He'd already learned what I liked.

My head was tucked under his chin so I kissed his chest. Sighing again, he held me even tighter. He had one arm under my waist, the other on my ass.

"I'm not going anywhere," I promised him.

"I like how this feels" he lightly ran his fingers over my ass, "Being close like this, your skin against mine." His hand moved to the small of my back and then trailed back down to my ass. "Soft and you smell good."

"I try," I couldn't help laughing. He was so easy to please.

For me it was almost like the previous night, I was enveloped in his scent, but this time it was really him and not his sheets gently caressing my skin.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I was awoken out of an extremely sound sleep by Goren pulling his arm out from underneath me.

"Phone," he mumbled as he reached for the tangle of clothes at the foot of the bed. Somehow he managed to find it before it went to voicemail.

"Goren," he answered. "Oh, hi Rodgers" he continued after a brief pause. Before their conversation could get going another phone began to ring.

"Hang on," he told Rodgers as he searched for it.

"Goren," he answered the second cell. "Ma!" His eyes grew wide. "No, I didn't forget about you," he handed me the first cell and then stood up. "Just busy with a case."

I waited until he left the room before I spoke.

"Eames."

"Got it all sorted out now?" Rodgers asked dryly.

"Pardon?" I wasn't sure what she was getting at.

"I don't really care what you do in your off time, Detective Eames, but I'm sure there are people who do," she began, but I cut her off.

"The department issues us all the same phone, we just mixed them up." It was a half truth.

"Okay," she sounded extremely cheerful. "Did you mix them up before or after Goren fell asleep?"

"We – uh," I hadn't realized it was obvious that he'd been sleeping.

"We're all adults, Detective Eames and I know the department basically employs a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy, but I would think they'd also prefer that you didn't rub it in their faces. Maybe you should get different ring tones."

I groaned inwardly. There's nothing I despise more than being lectured about my personal life. I also hated that Rodgers knew, but what was done, was done.

"Good idea." I hoped I sounded sincere.

"I'm surprised you don't already, but hey, I'm not your mother and this isn't why I called. After you called to say all of the victims were models, I went back and did some more digging, metaphorically speaking, and I found another one from '93."

"'93? Where?"

"Central Park, south of the Traverse, report says she disappeared in the fall, but the body wasn't found until the spring – badly decomposed."

"Badly decomposed?" I repeated. "Cold enough to keep the smell down, but not stop decomposition?"

"Well, to keep the smell down a bit, until it got really cold," Rodgers offered. "Cold enough to keep the dog walkers away, more likely. The moisture and fluctuating temperatures do damage, too. Too much to see any cuts, but she was definitely strangled and a model."

"And the last dump in the city until 2001," I was already thinking about the significance of why he stopped dumping bodies in the city.

"So it would seem," she agreed. "How about I just leave a copy of the autopsy report on your desk?"

"Are you still at work?"

"Ya, no one at home for me to, uh, nap with, Detective Eames." She wouldn't let it go. "Have a good night," she said before hanging up.

After I closed my phone I listened for Goren. I could just make out the low rumble of his voice. I knew he needed to be alone so I kept myself busy in the bedroom. After putting on a robe, I remade the bed and replaced the pillows. It was while I was folding our clothes I noticed I could no longer hear him. I was laying his pants on the bed when the door opened. If he hadn't looked so dejected, having Goren walk into my room completely naked would have made me very happy.

He sat on the bed, let out a huge sigh and then held his arms open to me. I was relieved that he wanted comfort from me because I'd been worried that the stress of dealing with his mother would make him push me away. I sat on his lap and put my arms around his neck.

"Bad?" I wasn't sure if he wanted to talk.

"It's never good," he tightened his arms around me. "And tonight she was worried because I usually call around 7."

At 7 I think we were naked in the living room. "I didn't even think. I'm sorry," I knew he usually called at 7 and I also knew what happened when he didn't.

"No, Alex," he rested his head against mine. "I don't want anything negative attached to us. No guilt. You're probably the best thing that ever happened to me. My Mom will always be a part of my life, but I won't let her control how I live it."

"Bobby, all you have to do is call her at 7. We can do that. This was an exception – a really good exception. How hard is a 7 o'clock call?" I leaned back to look at him. "We can do that."

"We can do that," his eyes shone. "You and me." He leaned in to kiss me. "You and me." He continued to kiss me until a strange sound made him stop. He pulled back and looked at me. "Hungry?" he laughed at me.

"Aren't you?" I shrugged.

"Mmm, I am," he pulled me in to kiss me again. "Want to order in?"

"Not really," I wrinkled my nose. "We eat too much restaurant food."

"So you're going to cook, now?"

"Well, not a four course meal," I laughed. "How about omelets? They're quick."

"Omelets are good," he gave me a squeeze. "Do you mind if I go out to get a paper while you cook, or do you want help?"

"I think I can manage," I rolled my eyes as Goren helped me up.

"Okay, do you want me to pick anything up while I'm out?"

"Are you going to the market?" I was more excited than I should have been.

"Sure," he shrugged.

"I'll write a list." I headed to the kitchen. "If I'd known you do groceries…" I called over my shoulder.

The omelets and toast were keeping warm in the oven when Goren got back. He'd bought far more than I had written down. "What did you buy?" I asked as I helped him with the bags.

"I thought I'd cook tomorrow," he smiled, making my heart skip a beat. How was I going to hide this at work?

"Oh," I remembered my conversation with Rodgers as we unpacked the bags. "Rodgers found another victim, dumped in Central Park in '93."

"'93?" He paused to look at me. "Why did she just find it now?"

"She," I began but stopped as I pulled a copy of Vogue from the bottom of the bad I was emptying. "Vogue?" I laughed.

"Research," he shook his head slightly. "Why did she miss it?"

"Decomp, but it was a model who had been strangled," I finished explaining as I pulled out copies of Elle and Marie Claire.

"Hmm," Goren nodded pensively. "He dumps this one in Central Park, but the next one in Pennsylvania. Why?"

"Something spooked him?" I offered.

"Or someone," Goren was still nodding.

"Someone with a badge," I smiled. "And that wasn't our entire conversation," I continued as I retrieved our food from the oven. "She suggested that we get different ring tones."

"What?" He looked puzzled as he took the plate I was handing him.

"She knows," I sat down.

"Knows what?" He broke off a big piece of omelet with his fork and brought it to his mouth.

Why were there some things he just knew, but this I had to explain? He took a bite of toast and waited for me to continue.

"She could tell you'd been sleeping when you answered my phone," I laid it out for him.

He shrugged and broke off another piece of his omelet. "I doubt she cares. She won't say anything."

"I barely know and now Rodgers knows," I still wasn't happy about it.

Goren put another chunk of omelet into his mouth and smiled at me as he chewed.

"What?" I took a bite of toast.

"I never took you for such a romantic," he put the last piece of omelet into his mouth. I'd eaten a quarter of my two egg omelet. I'd used three eggs for Goren's.

"How is that romantic?" I asked with my mouth full.

"Because you wanted it to be just ours, at least for a while, right?"

"Maybe," I tried to hide my smile.

"I think that's romantic," he grinned at me. "Want me to clean up?" he nodded toward the sink.

"Nope. I cooked. I clean," I smiled. "You can clean up tomorrow night."

"But you just made omelets, there's hardly any clean up. I'm making steaks with balsamic vinegar and stuffed peppers," he protested, dropping back into his Canarsie accent and stuck his chin out at me.

"It's not my fault you chose to show off," I informed him smugly. "And do you really think the mob accent is going to scare me?"

"It was worth a shot," he grinned.

"Why not slam your hand on the table and tell me cleaning is the woman's job" I laughed at him.

"I thought I'd have more luck with the accent."

"Go read your paper," I rolled my eyes at him. "I have more than just dishes to do."

While he was occupied I finished my food and then did the dishes. "I'm going to do some laundry. Do you need anything washed?" I asked him when I was done.

"I have a change of clothes in my locker,' he looked over his shoulder to tell me.

I did some hand washing after I started the washing machine. And hung it on the rack I kept in my back porch. By the time I was done the washing machine was finished so I transferred the load to the dryer.

"Ready for bed?" I asked Goren when I got back to the living room.

"Not yet. I'll be up for a while," he looked up from his paper to tell me.

"Okay, good night," I hoped I hid my surprise.

After brushing my teeth and pulling on a night gown, I crawled into bed and tried not to over analyze Goren's behavior. I was still trying not to think about it when I heard the toilet flush. The bedroom door opened a minute later. No light came in from the hallway.

"Are you still awake?" his voice was quiet.

"Ya."

"That was the wrong answer, wasn't it?"

I could tell he was feeling his way around the bed.

"Not wrong," I told him as he slid into the bed.

"But not smart."

"It wasn't going to change how I feel about you," I rolled onto my side to face him. "I know to expect the unexpected."

"You just asked me to come to bed with you and I said no."

"Okay, I was a bit confused," I admitted with a laugh. "But I knew you said no because you don't usually go to bed this early."

"We confessed our feelings, had amazing sex, you cooked me a meal and then when you asked me to come to bed I said –"

"Okay, it was dumb," I interrupted. "Happy?"

"I just want to do the right thing."

"Okay, Bobby, we need to talk," I rolled over and turned the light on. When I turned back toward him he looked surprised and a little scared. "I fell in love with the guy who sometimes does the wrong thing, often says the wrong thing and disappears into his own head. And while this guy might say and do the wrong thing, I know his heart's in the right place and I trust him completely. The guy who says the right thing and does the right thing is usually lying. I know, I've dated him many times. And Bobby, you could've come to bed when you were ready and woken me up to make love. I don't want you to change, not that I think you could."

"You'd be okay with me waking you up to make love?"

"Is that what you got out of what I just said?"

"You love me the way I am and you'd be okay with me waking you up to have sex," he was sitting up now too. His eyes had grown very dark. I'd recently figured out what that meant.

"And that turns you on?" I felt the same thing happening to me.

"Add it to my list of fetishes," he began dragging me onto my back. "And I don't know if you'd still love me if you knew what I'm thinking."

He was being far less tentative than he had been earlier. He'd pushed my night gown up to my neck and was squeezing my breasts. His kisses were feverish. This was the kind of passion I'd been expecting from Goren.

"What are you thinking," I broke out of the kiss, almost gasping.

"I'm thinking about everything I want to do to you." The darkness of his tone gave me goose bumps.

"Like what?" I took his bottom lip between my teeth and then slowly dragged them off.

"Uh uh," he shook his head

I rolled away from him and scrambled to the middle of the bed. "So now you're going to start withholding?" I straightened up on my knees and pulled my night gown off. "I may not have the personal insight you have, but I bet I can make you talk." While still watching him, I brought my hands to my breasts and began to play with my nipples. His already hard cock jerked inside his boxers. His chest was rising and falling quickly, his hands were clenched into fists but he hadn't moved an inch.

I let my right hand leave my breast and trail along my stomach. I had fully intended to give Goren the complete show but before my fingers reached the junction of my legs, he was on top of me. As he plunged his tongue into my mouth I could feel him pushing his boxers off. I was expecting to feel him inside of me but I should have known to expect the unexpected. His free hand slipped underneath me and he rolled us off of the bed. In a few steps my back was against the bedroom wall. He slid his hand under my knee and lifted me up.

"Now you can use that hand," his voice was gravelly.

I'm not sure what he'd originally wanted to do, but I was sure my display had changed his mind. I kept my eyes open, locked on his as I slid my hand down. I began by slipping my fingers inside of myself to get moisture. When I moved to my clit, Goren grunted his approval.

"Mmm," I breathed as I began to swirl my fingers.

Goren's eyes moved from fingers to my eyes and then back again. When my fingers began to move faster, Goren surprised me again by sliding his cock into me. I groaned at the sensation.

"Don't stop" Goren began to fuck me slowly.

"Yes, oh God, yes," I panted, my fingers began to move more quickly.

"Come for me, Alex," he breathed. "I love the way you come."

My body started to quake at his words.

"Yes, like that."

I watched him smile in satisfaction just before I had to close my eyes. When my shuddering stopped, I went limp. I would have slid down the wall, but Goren still had one hand under my knee and the other under my ass. I'd barely begun to form rational thoughts when he began to move inside of me again. When I was finally able to drag my eyes open I saw him looking down watching his cock slide into me. I thought I was in for Goren being torturously slow again, but at my first sigh he turned and carried me back to the bed. I was only on my back for an instant, but he turned me over and pulled me to my knees. Then he used his knee to push mine apart. I felt his hands on my ass, squeezing and kneading my flesh. What happened next might have been one of those things he wanted to do to me because his hand went to my head and pushed it down to the bed. Perhaps he did have a fetish after all and it was sticking up in the air. I couldn't stop myself from swiveling my hips, just to entice him. Taking me by the waist, he pulled me back toward the edge of the bed. His hands were caressing me gently. Next I felt his lips against my skin. He dropped to his knees and continued to kiss and caress me. His tongue and fingers probed, his lips kissed and tugged. When his fingers entered me in earnest I began to rock back against them. When I began to groan he eased his fingers out of me and stood up. I groaned louder when I felt his cock against me.

"Keep going," he breathed. "Like you were with my fingers."

"Feels so good," I moaned as I moved against him.

"So good," his hands were on my hips, clenching and unclenching.

Soon I wanted more than I could accomplish on my own. I must have communicated that somehow because he grabbed my hips and began to thrust into me.

"Oh God," I moaned into the bedspread. "Bobby, yes," I matched his every stroke.

"Alex, I love the way you feel" his hands were on my waist. "I love the way you make me feel."

I wasn't sure how Goren could form sentences. All I could do was pant and moan as my orgasm began to over take me and before I'd come down off the crest of the wave another one crashed over me. The waves didn't have time to build, I went from crest to crest, gasping and clutching at the bed like I might fall. The only reason I knew Goren had come was because he'd stopped thrusting as hard, but he stayed with me until I collapsed in exhaustion. He lay down beside me, still breathing hard.

"Are you okay?"

"So okay," I murmured contentedly.

"Are we just going to sleep here?" he chuckled as he caressed my back.

"I don't wanna move," I mumbled sleepily.

I felt the bed move as Goren got up. The sheets rustled and then Goren's hands were under my arms pulling me on top of him. I ended up half draped across him with my head on his chest.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

We could have ended up running very late in the morning, but Goren took me at my word and woke me up to make love. We hadn't stayed in the draped sleeping position that he liked so much. I'd woken up on my side with him spooned up behind me and that's how we stayed. We were finished when the alarm rang but I reached out quickly to turn it off because I wanted to hear what he was saying to me.

"I never imagined it was going to be like this," he kissed the shell of my ear.

"Like what?" I wiggled back against him.

"I'm not sure if I can explain it without it sounding really bad," he chuckled into my hair.

"I'll take it with a grain of salt," my curiosity had gotten the better of me.

"You already know that I thought about us having sex," he began.

"Ya," I nodded.

"A lot," he added.

"Mm hm," I wished he'd just say it.

"Well, in my fantasies we both really enjoyed the sex."

"Ya, in mine too," I nodded, "And this is different how?"

"In reality you enjoy sex a lot more than you did in my fantasies."

"So you're a better lover in reality than in your fantasies?" I laughed and rolled over. "How ironic."

"You have no idea how overwhelming I find your reaction to me, Alex," he wasn't laughing. "I could have never fantasized anything remotely close to this." As he leaned in to kiss me the alarm rang again. I must have only hit the snooze button.

"I wish we didn't have to get up," I sighed.

"Tomorrow we can sleep in," he gave me a quick kiss. "But I do have to leave for Carmel Ridge around 11."

"We'll still have Sunday and Monday," I returned his kiss. "I'll visit my sister tomorrow."

"I'll be home again by 7," he promised.

"Oh crap, my car," I suddenly remembered. "It's still in the lot by the bar. I should really get it this morning on our way to work, but first we need to shower."

"I'll shower and change at work," he watched as I got out of bed.

"Not a chance, Bobby," I scoffed. "You smell like sex, concentrated and bottled. You aren't going anywhere near 1 PP like this."

"Really?" he sniffed at himself. "They won't know who got me smelling this way."

"No." I crossed my arms and glared at him.

"Maybe I want a few people to know what a great night I had," he smirked at me.

"And those people will ask me who you're fucking and whether or not I'm jealous, so again, no!"

"No they wouldn't," he laughed.

"Bobby, whenever anyone wants to know what's going on with you, they ask me," I informed him. "So we're hitting the shower, now."

"Yes ma'am," he scooted off the bed.

"And why don't you stop at home and pick up things for the weekend. That way once were in we won't have to leave again."

Goren agreed, so for the first time in a very long time I walked into the squad room first. Rodgers had left me a copy of the autopsy report from the latest case she'd found and I was reviewing it when Deakins stopped at my desk.

"Another one?" he read over my shoulder.

"Ya, Rodgers found it after we told her the victims were models."

"I can't sit on this much longer, Detective Eames. How close are you?"

I looked up to see Goren walking into the squad room.

"Detective," Deakins greeted him. "I was just asking your partner how close you are on this case."

"We've only had it for a couple days, Captain," Goren looked puzzled. "Are you getting pressure?"

"Lieutenant Van Buren from the 2-7 called to apologize for her detective. She hoped the Quebec cops weren't too disappointed that we didn't have anything new to report," he looked at Goren for an explanation.

"That was me, Captain," I let him know immediately. "Van Buren wanted to know how we caught the case. I didn't want to let on about a possible serial at that point."

"Probably a good call," he admitted.

"This new case Rodgers found is going to help a lot. We think he must have been on the NYPD's radar and got spooked. That's when he started dumping bodies outside of the city. Now we have to find out who they were looking at. We will probably be a lot closer by the end of the day." Goren explained our thinking.

"You know about this new one already," Deakins was surprised.

"Rodgers called me last night. I thought Goren would want to know," I explained.

"You're working this after hours?" Deakins looked back to Goren.

"They start setting up for Fashion Week on Tuesday. The first show is next Saturday. We'll be working it this weekend if we have to. Time is running out for someone. I'd prefer it were this guy," Goren said matter of factly as he sat down and opened his case. His magazines spilled out onto his desk.

"Articles or pictures?" Deakins laughed and started to walk away.

"Captain?" I stopped him. "I do want to get in touch with the Quebec cops and give them some questions for Sylvie's parents."

"Go ahead," he nodded. "And you're going to see who the cops were looking at for this new case, Goren?"

"We had to be onto him," Goren confirmed.

"Brief me before the end of the day," he looked at both of us before he headed back to his office.

I wrote down the questions I wanted to give to the Quebec cops, got Goren's opinion and then spent the rest of the morning on the phone. I spent so much time on hold that I had to get Goren to take the phone while I took a bathroom break. It was 11:30 before I spoke to the right person who understood English well enough that I trusted my questions would make it to Mr. and Mrs. Gagnon.

"Your ear is red," Goren laughed at me when I finally hung up.

"And my head is pounding," I opened my desk drawer looking for Advil.

"You were remarkably patient," Goren was still smiling.

"I may have sounded patient," I laughed ruefully, "but my teeth were clenched." I took my Advil with a swig of cold coffee. "How was your morning?"

"I've got six names," he told me. "I need to start white boarding."

"I'll get us something to eat," I offered, but he was already inside his own head. I don't think he heard me. When I got back he took the sandwich absently and began to unwrap it. After I retrieved my laptop I closed the door to the interview room and sat down.

"Thanks," he nodded with his mouth full.

His board was underway and while he continued to write and stick things up, I did background checks on our six names and looked into the club that Sylvie Gagnon had last been seen at.

"Fusion closed last year," I looked up to tell him. "Bankrupt after being nabbed too many times for serving minors, but I don't see a connection with any of our suspects."

"This one," Goren pointed to John Harrison, "Went to the same high school as Carolann Moffat. He was two years ahead of her."

"And how many kids go to that high school?" I didn't think it was much of a connection.

"A couple thousand," he shrugged. "It might be tenuous, but it's there." He knew what I was thinking.

"Why did they bring him in for the Anca Schmidt case?" Anca was the girl had been murdered in the fall of '93 and found in the spring of '94.

"He worked as a bouncer at the club she was last seen at," he said distractedly. "These guys were all associated with the club, except for Anca's boyfriend."

"She was last seen at a club?" My interest was piqued. "How many were last seen at a club?"

"Until '94, all of them," Goren turned to look at me, "then Sylvie Gagnon in 2001, but different clubs."

"Still good hunting grounds for models," I knew it had to be important.

"It doesn't look like any of the bouncers worked at any of the other clubs though," Goren was staring at his board.

"When I tended bar the bouncers were quite often paid in cash. The owners didn't want to know what kind of records they had and for most of them, it was a second job."

"So one of them might have worked at all of the clubs," Goren nodded.

"One of six," I sighed.

"One of five," Goren corrected me. "Anca's boyfriend didn't have an alibi, but he went back to Switzerland after she was murdered. I've already discounted him."

"What about Carolann Moffat? She wasn't at a club was she?" I tried to remember the details of the case.

"No, she was coming home from a party when she disappeared. Everyone at the party was questioned and none of them were among our five." He reminded me.

"But John Harrison went to the same high school? That seems a lot less tenuous now."

"We should bring him in for questioning," Goren spun around to face me.

"But I can't find him. No driver's license, no record of him having a job since being a bouncer at Neon. And he's not inside, not under that name."

"Was he printed?" Goren sounded hopeful.

"No, he was only questioned," I shook my head.

"And then he disappears?" Goren stood up. "So how do we find him?"

"He'll be at Fashion Week," I reminded him.

"And he'll find out what it's like to be hunted."

"And he's nowhere to be found?" Deakins frowned when we took everything to him.

"Deep underground," I shook my head.

"Any pictures?" Deakins was grasping.

"A ten year old DMV photo," Goren showed him. "We've already arranged to have it computer-aged, Tuesday morning. No one wanted to stay late tonight to do it."

"The Friday night before a long weekend for a cold case, I'm shocked," Deakins commented dryly. "And I guess that means your weekend might be free now too. Good work on this."

"We're also going to talk to Carolann Moffat's mother on Tuesday. We want to know what she has to say about Johnny Harrison," I added.

Before we left for the day I called Rodgers. She was thrilled when I told her what we'd discovered and wanted to take us out for a drink.

"Rodgers wants to buy us a drink," I covered the mouthpiece to tell Goren.

"Don't you want to celebrate?" he sensed my hesitance.

"Ya, with you," I leaned closer to whisper.

"Just a couple of drinks, well, one for you," he winked at me and then motioned for me to give him the phone.

"Do you know Morelli's?" Goren was asking her to meet us at his rat pack bar. I liked that he wanted to go to the place we'd shared our first kiss.

"Ya, it's a drive, but it's the only place that works for us," Goren was saying when I tuned back in. "Okay, in one hour," Goren handed the phone back to me.

After driving both cars to my place, Goren suggested we walked to the bar. So we stashed our weapons in my gun safe and hit the sidewalk. It promised to be a beautiful early September evening.

"People in this city don't walk anymore," he said as he took my hand. "We walked everywhere when I was a kid."

It took us half an hour. Rodgers was just getting out of her car when we walked up.

"Why here?" she didn't seem impressed.

"It's special to us," Goren smiled and squeezed my hand. It had been a very long time since I'd walked hand in hand with anyone.

"Oh God, you're not going to be all romantic, are you?" she winced.

"Maybe," Goren grinned and held the door for us.

This time we waited for someone to take our order and I decided to have ginger ale again. I wasn't thrilled about the way two drinks had affected me the other night.

"You aren't pregnant again, are you?" Rodgers asked once the waitress had left.

"No," I laughed, "but the other night at Kinney's I got really drunk on two martinis. I ended up passing out at Goren's place."

"Is that what they're calling it these days?" Rodgers snorted.

"Oh, I had no idea Goren was interested at that point," I decided to be honest. There wasn't any point in playing coy.

"But yesterday…"she began. "Was that really…?" Her eyes grew wide.

Before she could continue the waitress appeared with drinks. As soon as she was gone Rodgers lifted her wine glass.

"Then that's another reason for a celebratory drink. And here we were all wondering whether or not Goren would not think it was weird to have sex with you when you were pregnant with your sister's kid."

"I told you people talk," I looked at Goren as he took a long pull of his beer. He was leaning against the corner of the booth. His leg was pressed against mine under the table and his eyes were smiling at me. I hadn't seen him look this relaxed in a very long time, if ever. My heart swelled as my love for him overwhelmed me almost as if I was just realizing for the first time. I put my hand on his knee and sighed.

"Good lord," Rodgers sounded disgusted. "I hope you don't do this at work because everyone will know if you do."

"Our guard is down," Goren informed her. "You're the only person who knows."

"And we'd like to keep it that way," I added.

"Whatever you say," she shrugged. "But I'd rather talk about the case. I can't believe you solved it so fast.

"Everything we have is circumstantial." Goren held up a hand to slow her down. "We need to question him to be sure."

"Translation: Goren needs him to confess. It's his thing." I teased.

"We have DNA, Goren," Rodgers chuckled.

"He needs to admit what he's done." I felt Goren tighten up. "Tell us where the other victims are."

"You know he'll hold some back, Bobby. They all do." I rubbed his knee, hoping to calm him down.

"He'll give us some."

"And we'll stop him before he hurts anyone else," I assured him, looking into his eyes.

"I know," he exhaled slowly.

I was relieved to feel the tension draining out of him. He and Rodgers ordered another drink and made small talk. I only chimed in now and then. I was looking forward to getting home. I knew Goren was here because this case was important to Rodgers. Despite what I said, Goren usually did do the right thing. At 7 o'clock on the button Goren finished his drink and asked me to let him out of the booth.

"I have to make a call," he told Rodgers.

"His mother," I explained as Goren walked out of the bar.

"Is she still up at Carmel Ridge?"

"Ya," I confirmed. I hadn't realized she knew anything about it.

"I know he feels guilty that she's in there, but it's a really good place. I know he feels like he's not doing enough, but he does significantly more than most."

"I don't think he'll ever feel like he's doing enough," I signaled the waitress for our check. "It's one problem he can't fix, so he spends his life trying to fix everything else, regardless of the rules. It's why he's always in trouble."

"And that's why he needs you," she smiled and finished her drink.

"So everyone tells me, including him," I laughed and reached for the bill the waitress had brought.

"Oh no," Rodgers snatched it from my hand. "You two went out on a limb for me looking into this and then you solve it so quickly. This is definitely my treat."

"Every new case made it that much easier, you helped with that," I tried to give her some of the credit.

"You listened," she reminded me.

"Goren listened," I corrected her. "Then he convinced me."

"I'm still paying," she laughed.

When we got outside Goren was standing near the curb, the phone still at his ear. He nodded his goodbye to Rodgers and then took my hand. We began slowly walking in the direction of my place while he continued to promise his mother he'd see her the next day. The conversation drifted to his brother and I was even mentioned at one point. Goren slowed to a stop outside of an Italian market.

"Okay, I gotta go now, Ma," he told her. He listened to her response. "I know, Ma, but I hafta make dinner." He paused again. "No, not yet," he told her. "Okay, I'll see you tomorrow."

"She wants you to eat?" I smiled when he'd hung up his phone.

"She can't help it," he squeezed my hand. "Let's pick up a bottle of wine," he nodded toward the store. "I'll get you drunk when we're safely at home." He winked at me.

"I won't get as drunk if you feed me first," I defended myself.

"Ya but I'll still be able to take advantage of you," he held the door open.

"You don't need wine for that," I lowered my voice as we walked in.

Goren chose a Chianti Classico to go with the steaks he'd bought and also picked up his vast assortment of newspapers.

"I'll take those last four cornetti too, please," he smiled at the cashier as he nodded toward some pastries under a glass lid.

"Weekend breakfast" she smiled at us.

"That's the plan," he reached for his wallet.

Fifteen minutes later we were home. Goren put the bags on the kitchen table and pulled me into his arms. One hand was in my hair, the other on my ass as his mouth descended onto mine. Our kiss was long and deep. I loved the feeling of his lips on mine, the way our tongues caressed each other. I loved the way he held me so tightly. I sighed into his mouth and relaxed against him. I sighed again when I felt his body's response to me. He pulled out of the kiss, his breathing already becoming labored.

"I've been wanting to do that, and more, all day," he leaned in to kiss me again quickly. "But let's make dinner first. I want to cook for you."

Acting as Goren's sous chef, I did whatever he asked and tried to keep ahead of the dishes. Once the stuffed peppers were in the oven he opened the wine and poured us each a glass.

"We have about half an hour before I need to start the steaks. Wanna make out?" he grinned as he handed my glass.

"Are you going to let me drink my wine before you take advantage of me?" I took a sip.

"Maybe some."

The way he was looking at me made my heart skip several beats. I had no trouble deciphering that look.

"Couch," he nodded toward the living room.

"I thought we were going to eat first," I took another sip of wine as I walked.

"Before I make love to you," he explained. "We only have half an hour and I'm not in the mood for a quickie."

"What are you in the mood for?" I had another drink of my wine before I set it down on the end table.

"Let me show you."

I thought he was going to pull me onto his lap, but instead we ended up lying down on the couch. He pulled me against him tightly. I put one leg over his to secure myself and he slid one hand under my waist. I looked into his eyes, waiting for him to kiss me, but I found him scanning my face.

"You are so beautiful," he brushed the hair out of my eyes.

"You're biased," I smiled at him, "but thank you." I'd been saddled all my life with being called cute, so being called beautiful felt odd. I'd always thought I had a decent body and I worked to keep it that way.

"Maybe I'm biased," he kissed me softly. "But if I am, I'm not the only one. Don't you notice men looking at you? Most of us can tell the difference between a woman who has to work hard at looking good and one who is naturally good-looking. You looked just as beautiful when we went to bed last night as you did this morning." He kissed me softly again. "Did you know that your eyes are light brown when you're happy, dark brown when you're mad at me and almost black when you're aroused?"

"I guess we have that in common," I smiled and caressed his cheek.

"And these cheekbones," he kissed them. "And your little nose," he kissed that too. "And," he began but after his lips met mine there was no more talking.

As we kissed I let my hands explore. Unlike the previous day, I managed to unbutton his shirt. My hand was cool against his hot skin. We were pressed so tightly together that I didn't have a lot of room, but I managed to caress his chest. His hand was exploring the curve of my ass. My touches made him hum into my mouth and his hand made me sigh into his. We actually weren't even kissing. Our mouths were just open against each other. Our panting made kissing difficult. I let my hand wander down to his ass. I wished we were naked so I could worship in earnest. Goren's erection was pressing firmly into my hip. My hand was drawn to it like a magnet. He groaned as I caressed him lightly. At his reaction I began to pay his cock more serious attention. He pressed himself against my hand. Before I could grasp him firmly, he began to move. With the hand he had under my waist, he pulled me onto my back. He was on top of me, his cock pressed against me, his eyes on fire. Slipping his hand under my shirt, he pushed my bra out of his way and began to squeeze my breast. I lifted my chest toward him, wanting more. He complied. My shirt was at my throat and my bra pushed up to expose my breasts. When his mouth closed over my nipple, I shuddered and lifted my chest higher. I hand both hands on his head, holding him against me. Just as he tried to move to my other breast an alarm rang in the kitchen. I sank back into the couch and whimpered.

"Maybe we should've just played cards," I sighed.

"Didn't you like that?" he eased himself off of me. "I did."

"It was the stopping I wasn't crazy about," I looked up from fixing my bra and blouse.

"Call it an appetizer," he grinned at me.

The house was already beginning to fill with the aroma of the stuffed peppers but when Goren started to cook the steaks my mouth began to water. The glass of wine I was drinking did nothing to curb my appetite. By the time he put the plates on the table I think I was drooling. The steak with balsamic vinegar almost melted in my mouth. I'd finished almost half of it before I even touched the pepper, praising Goren's cooking with my mouth full several times. In spite of being ravenous when we sat down, I'd barely managed to finish the steak and I'd left half of my pepper. Goren's plate was empty.

"Dessert?" he held up the bottle of Chianti.

"Sure," I laughed and held up my glass for him.

As we finished the last of the wine we cleaned up the kitchen, although I'd managed to do most of it while Goren was cooking. He washed the dishes and I dried.

"I thought you were going to make me clean up?" he asked as I put away the last plate.

"I was kidding," I rolled my eyes at him.

"Now I feel guilty for not helping you last night."

"With the one pan and two plates?" I laughed. "I survived, but there is something I wanted to talk to you about."

"What?" he turned and leaned against the counter.

"What was it you were worried about last night? The things you wanted to do but wouldn't? Whatever it was, I don't think we ended up doing it," I put my hand on his arm and stepped closer, "because everything we did was pretty tame."

"We never had a chance to talk about our limits, Alex and not everyone would think that was tame."

I was surprised that he seemed a little hesitant.

"Okay, Bobby, we're obviously not on the same page here. Talk to me, tell me what you thought wasn't tame," I put my arms around his waist.

"Well, when I asked you to masturbate," he offered quietly.

"I was going to do that anyway to tempt you," I smiled up at him.

"I guess it was how I asked." His hands were now on my ass.

I thought back to the night before, trying to remember how he asked. When it came to me all I could do was laugh. "Do you mean because you didn't ask me, you told me?" I stood on my tiptoes to kiss him.

"Ya" he hugged me a little tighter.

"That started in the bar, Bobby." I informed him.

"It did?" he looked taken aback.

"And stopped when we fell asleep." I kissed him again. "I liked it. I liked knowing what you wanted to do. I thought it was sexy."

"It was completely unconscious," he looked amazed.

"That's what made it so sexy," I sighed, remembering how it felt. "Don't hold back with me, Bobby."

"There has to be limits, though. Everyone has limits."

"I dunno," I shrugged, trying to think about what I wouldn't do. "Talking about my turn offs might turn me off."

"Wouldn't it be worse if I did something that turned you off?

"Bobby, I worked in Vice, I've seen things you couldn't possibly imagine and I don't want to talk about everything I saw that turned me off. I like my sex pretty straight forward, but I do like it when you move me around and when you restrained me. There aren't any positions I don't like, although I'm sure there are some I haven't tried."

"I didn't restrain you," he sounded offended.

"Ya, you did, with your hands and your body weight, but that is my limit."

"Oh," he looked puzzled by what I was telling him.

"And you already know me well enough to know, Bobby, that if I had a problem with anything you did, I'd let you know. And last night everything you did turned me on. The way you were looking at me...you still haven't said what you were afraid to do last night."

"It wasn't one thing," he finally admitted. "I wanted to do everything at once and more vigorously than I thought I should."

"I like vigorous," I began to unbutton his shirt, "You said last night that my pleasure turned you on, well your desire turns me on, so don't take away from my pleasure by trying to control yourself, okay?" I kissed him again as I pushed his shirt off his shoulders.

"So I can do whatever I want," his eyes were beginning to darken.

"There'll be times when I'll want to have my way with you too," I informed him as I moved my hands to his belt.

"I'm okay with that," his eyes moved from my face to my hands as I pulled his belt off.

"Good," I breathed, tossing his belt aside.

"Blouse," he nodded at me, a small smile on his lips.

I took my time with the buttons and then just let it slide off my arms onto the floor. Then I moved to on his pants.

"Now yours," he instructed after he'd kicked his aside. "C'mere," he held out his hand to me once my pants joined his.

One of his hands then went to my head and the other to my ass as he brought our mouths together. His erection throbbed against me as we kissed feverishly. I hadn't realized we'd been moving until I bumped into a chair. Goren turned us around and kicked it out of the way. He set me down and stepped back.

"Bra," he was breathing hard.

"You're okay with me taking it off this time," I asked coyly.

He nodded slowly. My attempt at humor was lost on him. Instead of his hands going to my breasts as I expected, they went to my hips and he turned me around so my back was against his chest. Then both of his hands were on my breasts and his lips were on my neck. I groaned and tried to press back against him even harder. I tilted my head to give him better access to my neck. At first his fingers gently teased my nipples making my body react immediately. A sigh escaped my lips and I found myself on my toes, my ass thrust back grinding against him. At my reaction, Goren hummed against my neck and his attention to my nipples became more firm.

"God, Bobby," I breathed shakily. Reaching behind me I grabbed his head so I could pull him into a kiss. I couldn't get enough of him. I wanted to hold him, to touch him. I wanted him inside of me, but Goren had different ideas. His hand slid slowly down along my belly and into my shorts. He cupped me with his hand and massaged me gently. His fingers dipped into me, making me gasp. My body began to tremble and if he hadn't been holding me up, I'm sure I would've collapsed.

"Bobby, turn me around, I want –" I was breathing hard.

"What do you want?"

"To touch you. I want more."

"More," he whispered and turned me around.

My mouth was on his, then his neck and his shoulders. As I kissed him, Goren lifted me to the table. My hands went to his boxers and I pushed him down as far as I could each. He groaned into my mouth when my hand closed around his cock. Wrapping my legs around his, I attempted to pull him closer, but I only succeeded in sliding closer to the edge of the table.

"Lie down," he too was breathing hard.

After I'd done as he asked he took me by the hips and slid my ass almost completely off the table. His proclivity for having sex with me in my underwear had returned as he just pushed them out of the way again. The sensation of him sliding into me was overpowering and my shoulders lifted off of the table. He'd taken one of my legs and laid it against his chest, my heel at his shoulder. He held the other under my knee. Goren was staring down, watching our union.

"Bobby," I grabbed the sides of the table, "What is it about the underwear?"

"Mmm," he shifted his gaze to my eyes. "I like the way it looks." His eyes stayed locked on mine as he continued his slow thrusts. "I like the way that looks too," his voice was hoarse.

"What?" I was lifting my hips to match his every move.

"The way your eyelids flutter with each stroke, the way your mouth opens a little more, the way your chin lifts up. I like the way I can see how much you like this."

"Oh, I really like this," my voice came out husky.

"And I like the noises you make too," he began to thrust harder.

"Noises?" I had no idea what he meant and I was in no frame of mind to figure it out.

"Your gasps and groans, your sighs and the way you say my name."

I let out one of those gasps as him thumb found my clit.

"God, Bobby," I panted.

"Ya, like that," he groaned and everything became far more vigorous, just like we'd talked about.

I could no longer focus on anything except the pleasure. My world had become warm and black and electric. A tingling had begun deep inside of me and it was quickly becoming a fire. I think I was making something of those noises Goren liked. He tightened his grip on my leg and I gripped the table harder as he began to thrust even more vigorously. Flashes of white light penetrated my blackness, my warmth was suddenly hot and my fire a blaze. As my shoulders lifted off of the table I heard Goren's voice. He was repeating my name over and over.

In my post-orgasmic fog, I lay limply on the table. I felt Goren pick me up and carry me to the bedroom. I heard him pull the covers back and then he set me on the bed. Once he covered me up he bent to whispered in my ear.

"I'll be right back."

"Where are you going?" I murmured sleepily.

"All of my stuff is still in the car."

"I have to pee," I sighed.

In no time at all we were both back in the bed.

"What time is it?" I was almost asleep again already.

"Almost 11."

"Isn't it still early for you?" I wondered drowsily.

"I liked how it felt to go to sleep with you."

"Now that's the right thing to say," I felt warm all over again.

"Can we do that thing where you kind of drape yourself on me? I like the way that feels, too."

"That's even better, Bobby," I rolled over and put my head on his chest, lay my arm on his waist and put one leg on top of his.

"Ya, like that," he drew a long slow breath.

"I love you, Bobby," my eyes closed as I felt him pull the blankets over us. If he returned my sentiment, I didn't hear.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

When I woke up I was disappointed to find that I was alone in the bed. I knew Goren needed less sleep than I do so if he came to bed with me, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that he wasn't there when I woke up.

When I opened the door I was greeted by the aroma of freshly brewed coffee. I forgave him for getting up before me. When I finished in the bathroom I went back to the bedroom get my robe. Before I was finished doing it up Goren had come into the bedroom with a tray.

"Back in bed," he nodded at me.

"Good morning to you too," I laughed as I climbed back onto the bed.

"Good morning," he smiled as he set the tray down on my lap.

"Ooh, what did you call these last night?"

He'd put the pastries on the tray with the coffee.

"Cornetti," he reminded me.

"They look like croissants with powdered sugar," I picked one up and took a bite.

"Except these have apricot filling," he laughed as a glob of filling landed on my robe.

I rescued the filling and chased it with a sip of coffee. Goren joined me on the bed.

"Mmm, good with coffee," I smiled at him.

"Better with espresso," he took a sip of his coffee.

"That is a taste I have yet to acquire, but I like do cappuccino," I took another sip of coffee.

"Doesn't everyone?" he chuckled and then reached up and brushed my nose. "Powdered sugar," he told me.

"You've showered and shaved." My few sips of coffee had allowed me to focus.

"Brilliant observation, Detective Eames," he laughed at me.

"What time is it" I ignored his rib.

"10:30."

"10:30? You have to leave soon." I'd been hoping to spend more time with him before he had to leave.

"We'll still have the rest of the weekend," he took my coffee and put it on the nightstand, the plate followed. He leaned the tray against the side of the bed. "You were sleeping so soundly."

He pulled me into a kiss. This was the kind of time I'd been hoping to spend. When he deepened the kiss, I melted into his arms. He pulled away, leaving me wanting more.

"Okay, I should've woken you up," he looked into my eyes. "But you have no idea how beautiful you look when you're sleeping, so peaceful."

"I expect you to spend the day in bed with me tomorrow to make this up to me," I leaned in to kiss him.

"Okay, let's not start anything because I have to leave." He rolled to the side of the bed and stood up.

We shared a lengthy goodbye kiss at the door and after assuring me he'd be home by 7 he was gone. Once I'd taken a quick shower I drove to my sister, Liz's place arriving just in time to give my nephew, Ethan lunch and walk him to sleep. After putting him in his crib, I filled my sister in on what had been going on the last couple of days. Even before I was her surrogate we'd shared everything. She knew I'd fallen for Goren and was thrilled for me.

"I want to make him something special for dinner tonight, but I have no idea what." We were sipping iced tea in the backyard.

"I've got an amazing pork tenderloin recipe," she stood up, "but it needs to be marinated so you'll have to start soon. I'll write it down for you."

"But I just got here", I protested.

"We'll see each other next weekend." She brushed my concern aside. "And you can bring Bobby." She grinned at me.

"I can't make any promises with work and everything." I couldn't help smiling back. She'd been after me about seeing Goren again for awhile. She'd only met him the once, the night I gave birth to Ethan. I'd always thought it was because she'd want to give him a not so subtle hint about how I felt, but now I think she was just curious to see us together.

I was back in my car by 2. I had a lot to do in 5 hours. My sister had given me a shopping list and there was something special I had intended to buy for Goren. It was 3:30 when I got home. If I marinated the pork for the full three hours, it wouldn't go into the oven until 6:30 and it needed an hour to cook, but that probably didn't matter. It's not like the food had to be on the table as soon as he walked in the door. But I decided to have some cheese ready as an appetizer in case he was really hungry.

Time flew by and I was just setting the table when I heard the front door open. It was 5 minutes to 7:00. My heart quickened in anticipation. I had it bad.

"Something smells good." He called from the hall.

"It'll be ready in half an hour," I answered. We were so domestic. He appeared in the kitchen with a bouquet of wildflowers.

"Aww, flowers." I smiled at him. When I went to reach for him, he pulled me into a hug. The flowers were behind my back.

"To apologize for this morning." He explained as he bent his head to kiss me.

"Apologize for what?"

"For not waking you up." He kissed me again.

I had to laugh. "What are you going to do when we really have a fight?"

"Maybe we won't." He shrugged.

"That's just delusional". I broke his embrace and took the flowers. "Everybody fights."

"Then I'm sure you'll let me know what my penance will be," he watched me as I put the flowers in a vase.

"You look really nice."

I looked down at myself. I was wearing jeans and a black tank; no jewelry except my necklace, no makeup. "I'm wearing jeans, Bobby."

"And they look really good," he walked toward me.

When he pulled me into his arms this time, his hands went to my ass and he sighed when he kissed me.

"Something is different," he looked at me as his hands explored my ass.

"A surprise for later." I put my arms around his neck and happily returned his kisses.

"I know I'm going to like this surprise."

"I still have a few things to do. Sit down and I'll pour you some wine. How did it go?" I asked as I handed him his glass.

"Pretty much like normal," he shrugged, "except she knows I'm seeing someone."

"How?" I asked in amazement as I set down the plate of cheese.

"I guess I come by my perception honestly," He popped a piece of cheese into his mouth. "My ass was barely in the chair before she said something."

"What did she say?" I was curious.

"You look happy. Who is she?" We both laughed and Goren asked about my visit with my sister.

By the time he finished his wine, I was taking the tenderloin out of the oven.

"That smells amazing," he smiled as I was turning around. "Is this turning into a competition?"

"Hardly," I laughed. "This is my sister's recipe."

He sat and watched as I prepared the plates, leaving the pork to sit for a couple of minutes.

"What's the wine?" He tried to get a look at the label as I poured, but I kept it hidden.

"Wait and have some with the pork, and then you tell me," I smiled coyly, "and no smelling." I chided him as he went to pick up the glass. "I know that nose."

"What's the big secret?"

"Be patient," I scolded as I spooned green beans onto the plate beside the roasted new potatoes. After I poured the mustard sauce onto the pork, I put his plate onto the table in front of him.

He waited until I sat down with mine before he took a bite.

"Very good." He said with his mouth full and then reached for the wine. His eyes opened a little wider and he cocked his head as he tasted the combination. "It's crisp and bright, not grape," he took another sip. "Apple. It really complements the pork. I never would have chosen an apple wine. I'm impressed."

"Again, it was my sister's suggestion." I didn't take the credit. I was about to taste the pork myself when Goren took the fork out of my hand.

"Let me," he smiled.

"Okay." This was new to me, but I went with it and opened my mouth. I slid the meat off the fork with my lips. I didn't even have to start chewing to taste how good it was. I would have to thank my sister.

"Now some wine," he nodded at the glass.

It was wonderful, crisp like Goren had said and the hint of apple was amazing with the pork. After pushing his plate closer to mine, Goren moved his chair so our knees were touching. I snatched my fork back and speared one of the potatoes on his plate. I held it in front of his mouth until he opened it. It ended up being the most sensual meal I'd ever had, and the longest. I had to decline the last few bites. Even though it was good, I was close to being over full. Goren finished mine off happily.

"What am I going to make to top that?" He asked and then drained his wine. "That was a sexy meal."

"The food was good," I agreed, "it was how we ate it that was sexy."

"Good food is always sexy," he grinned unabashedly.

"Oh," I returned his grin. "I've learned something new about Bobby Goren."

"You're just figuring out that I like food?" He laughed.

"No, that you think good food is sexy, but that meal is it for me. That's as good as it gets."

"Just because you don't cook a lot, doesn't mean you can't. Your omelet was great and this was phenomenal."

"Ya but it was my sister's recipe," I reminded him.

"And the balsamic steak was my mother's," he shrugged. "So what? That's not what it's about. We can try new recipes, create our own. We don't have to trade nights. I think cooking together will be very sexy."

"I think you're very sexy," I sighed. "Kiss me." I leaned closer.

"Why was that sexy?"he asked after he'd complied with my request.

"I dunno, how passionate you get, I guess. I like it," I didn't know how to explain.

"You know what I'd like?" he sat back in his chair.

"What?" I never knew with Goren.

"I'd like to see what's under those jeans," he nodded at me. "It's not boy shorts."

"No, it's not, Detective Goren," I laughed. "But I don't want to have sex in the kitchen again."

"You prefer the bed" he tilted his to look at me.

"I prefer soft," I tilted my head back at him. "Bed is one option, but this food has to be wrapped up before we do anything."

As soon as the food was in the fridge and the last dish was soaking in the sink, Goren scooped me up. Before our conversation at the bar I'd often wondered if he might have preferred taller women. Now I was beginning to think he enjoyed our size difference.

"Am I ever going to have to walk to the bedroom again?" I laughed.

"Only if you insist."

Once we were in the bedroom he set me down, turned on every light and then climbed onto the bed.

"Are you sure you can see?" I couldn't help chuckling.

"I assumed this surprise was a visual one," his eyes were darkening already.

"Ya, but if I'd known I was going to be doing a striptease I would've worn a shirt with buttons."

"S'okay," his eyes were travelling up and down my body. I had a feeling that tonight I was going to be dessert.

It still seemed to me like it was going to be an abbreviated show since all I had to take off were my jeans and my tank, but Goren didn't seem to mind. I began by popping the button on my jeans and lowering the zipper, then I turned around. After hooking my thumbs in the belt loops, I pushed my jeans down slowly, ensuring I wiggled my ass for effect. I knew I'd been successful when I heard Goren sigh. As I bent over to push my jeans down all the way I separated my feet a little to be sure I maximized his view.

"Red," he murmured.

"I hoped you would like it," I smiled as I turned to face him again.

"Ya, you look really good," he shifted on the bed. I assumed his jeans had become a little constrictive.

"I haven't taken the tank off yet," I reminded him.

"You look good in tank tops."

"Do you want me to leave it on?"

"Nope."

Still facing him, I began to lift slowly from the bottom of my shirt. Before I revealed my breasts, I turned my back to him again and pulled my tank over my head. I held it to my chest as I turned around again. When I let it fall to the floor, Goren to a long slow breath.

"C'mere," he beckoned with his finger.

"Do you like it?" I already knew the answer.

"Ya," he got off the bed and unbuttoned his shirt. When he'd thrown it aside, he wrapped his hand around my waist and pulled me against his chest. I sighed in anticipation when his hand went to the back of my head. My mouth was already open when he began to kiss me. I had just enjoyed the sensation of his tongue against mine when he pulled back.

"How do I get it off?"

The corset-like front closed with hooks and eyes. I began to undo them as he watched.

"I thought you liked it," I was a little confused.

"I do, but I don't ever want you to think the lingerie turns me on more than you do. The packaging is nice, but it's you I want."

"God, Bobby," I had to blink my eyes quickly to stop my tears.

He had his jeans and boxers off before I'd finished with the teddy. He pulled the covers back and when I'd dropped the teddy on the floor he took my hand and pulled me toward the bed.

"Over the past couple of days we've had a lot of amazing sex, Alex, the most passionate, lusty sex I've ever experienced but tonight I want us to make love. I want to show you how much I love you." His eyes never left mine.

This time I couldn't hold back the tears. "I love you too, Bobby," my tears clouded my voice.

"Good tears?" he scanned my face, hopefully.

"Very good tears," I choked out a laugh.

Goren brushed those good tears away before kissing me gently. He sat down on the bed and pulled me onto his lap. I lost myself his kisses. He slowly moved us until I was on my back. I loved the feeling of his body on top of mine. I loved looking up into his eyes. I loved the way he looked at me, in complete adoration. We made love slowly, paying more attention to our kissing at first than anything else, but my focus changed as my heat began to rise. I loved the way it felt as he moved inside of me, the way he watched my reactions, the way he finished every stroke with enough of thrust to make my heat become a hum. I'd never experienced such a slow build up and before tonight Goren had made me come faster than I ever had in my life. It was almost embarrassing. This was definitely the longest we'd ever made love. I had begun to feel like I might explode.

"Now?" he must have sensed I was on the verge.

"Yes!" I pulled his head down to kiss him.

His next thrust was enough to send me over the top. I clenched my legs around him as I quaked. He groaned and I felt him pulse inside of me.

We continued to kiss as Goren rolled us onto our sides. I indulged myself by running my fingers along his side, over his ass and down to his thigh. I moved my lips to his neck and then kissed my way to his chest. Putting my hand on his shoulder I pushed him onto his back. I heard Goren sigh as I kissed his belly. He was caressing my hair until I moved out of his reach and began to kiss his thighs. When I kissed my way back to his mouth he held me there and kissed me softly.

"Your lips feel so good," he sighed and squeezed me tightly. "I like the way it makes me feel."

"How does it make you feel?" I asked sleepily.

"Warm," he pulled the blankets over us. "Loved," he exhaled slowly.

"I wanted to show you how much I love you too," I arranged myself on top of him the way he liked.

"I like the way you show me."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The room was dark was when I woke to the sound of my cell phone ringing. I rolled off of Goren to retrieve it from the nightstand.

"Eames," I answered.

"Detective Eames, sorry to wake you." I recognized Deakins voice.

"Captain," I sat up. Goren quickly followed suit.

"We might have another one, a model, raped, strangled and cut. The body was found in an alley downtown. Rodgers is going to meet us there."

"Okay. Do you want me to call Goren?"

"No, I'll call him. How soon can you be here?"

"Half an hour," I promised.

Seconds after he gave me the address Goren's phone rang, but I didn't hear their conversation because I was already on my way to the bathroom.

"He's expecting me there in half an hour," I'd returned and we were pulling on our clothes. "At this time of night you can get there in twenty. I'll give you a head start."

When I arrived, Deakins met me at the police tape and walked with me to the scene.

"Did you know Goren is seeing someone?" he asked point blank as we walked.

"What makes you think he is?" I deflected his question.

"He didn't get here as soon as I expected. When I asked why, he said he hadn't been at home." Deakins explained.

"Well there you go," I smiled. "I guess he is, but I think if you have questions about Goren's personal life, you should be asking Goren"

"I was just wondering if there was anything I should know, Detective Eames," he defended himself.

"I would think you'd be happy that he's doing something normal." I put finger quotes around normal.

"Actually I find the thought of Detective Goren doing something normal almost frightening," Deakins lowered his voice.

I had to smother my laugh because we were only a few feet away from Goren who was crouched with Rodgers examining the victim.

"Eames," Goren nodded at me to join him.

"What do we have?" I crouched down beside him.

"Well she's not a model," he rubbed his chin. "Too short and a healthy weight," he began. "She was choked, not strangled, but I don't think that's what killed her."

"No, she probably lost consciousness though and that's when he did this," Rodgers lifted the sheet to reveal the bloody mess that used to be the victim's pelvis.

"That's not our guy's M.O.," I looked away.

"No," Goren agreed.

"I'm sorry to call you out in the middle of the night," Rodger's apologized. "Whoever got the call thought it fit the circular I sent out."

"At first glance, it does," I admitted, standing up.

"We found this in a garbage can around the corner," a young officer in uniform held a purse out to me. I reached into my pocket for gloves before I took it.

"What's Major Case doing here?" A voice I didn't recognize asked.

"We thought this fit with some cold cases we're looking into," Goren looked up to explain.

"Captain Deakins," Deakins held out his hand to the detective I didn't know.

"Stabler, SVU. This is my partner, Olivia Benson," Detective Stabler made introductions.

"Alex Eames," I smiled. "And this is my partner, Robert Goren."

"Ya, we know who you are," he sounded a little terse. "So does this fit with your cold cases?"

"No," Goren shook his head. "Our guy strangles then mutilates his vic's faces and bodies. There's no foreign object rape like there is here."

"Look at this, Bobby," I pulled a pair of underwear and a bra from the purse. "What is she wearing under the dress?"

"Lacy lingerie," Rodgers informed me. "A teddy."

"Underwear in her purse?" Goren muttered as he stood up. "Who would you wear a teddy for, Detective Benson?"

"I beg your pardon?" she looked taken aback.

Detective Stabler stiffened noticeably.

"Oh, sorry," Goren plunged ahead. "Under what circumstances does a woman wear something like this?"

"Uh, well, for someone special, I guess," she offered.

"Like a boyfriend," I added.

"But then why does she have underwear in her purse," Goren looked at me.

"Because the teddy was for someone special who wasn't the boyfriend and she didn't want him to know, so she made the switch after she left for her evening out," I thought out loud.

"Yup," he agreed. "Boyfriend's your killer," Goren nodded to Stabler.

"How would we ever have figured it out without Major Case," Stabler rolled his eyes.

"Oh, I'm sure you would have," Goren ignored the sarcasm. "It's pretty cut and dried – we'll leave you to it," he peeled off his gloves.

Benson and Stabler took our places as we walked away leaving Deakins and Rodgers to sort everything out. I lowered my voice to talk to Goren.

"So Deakins asked me if I knew that you were seeing someone," I let him know.

"What was I supposed to say?" he kept his voice low as well. "I had to explain why it took me so long. The truth seemed the easiest way to go."

"His curiosity is definitely piqued," I laughed

"See you at home," he smiled.

It took me a while to fall back to sleep once we'd returned to bed. I kept seeing flashes of the horror that had been inflicted on that woman. Goren was awake too, caressing my back gently. I hated to think that love could turn to such loathing.

"Try not to think about it," he kissed the top of my head, knowing what I was thinking without being told.

"It's like a slideshow in my head," I sighed.

"Okay, roll over on your side," he instructed.

"What?"

"Your side," he patted my side of the bed.

Once I did as he asked, he spooned up against me and hugged me tightly.

"Does that feel better?" he murmured in my ear.

"Much," I sighed shakily. The feeling of being secure in Goren's arms finally allowed me to relax and fall asleep.

We slept until almost noon on Sunday morning and the images of the previous night did not make a reappearance. Waking up to Goren's erection pressing into my ass probably helped. I let myself be engulfed by his desires. They were not so disparate from my own.

We were drying off after sharing a shower when my land line rang. Goren must have heard the tone of my voice because he joined me in the living room almost immediately.

"Okay, no problem, we'll be there right away," I promised and hung up the phone.

"What?" Goren looked concerned.

"Liz's mother-in-law was just taken to the hospital. Heart attack," he followed as I rushed to the bedroom to get dressed. "She needs us to look after Ethan," I explained. He was already pulling on his jeans.

"I'll drive," he took the keys from me after I locked the door.

Ethan was down for his nap when we arrived so Liz and Brian left right away after thanking us profusely. I felt out of breath like I'd just come in from a run. It seemed like I should be doing something but there was nothing to do. Heaving a sigh, I collapsed onto the couch. Goren paced around the living room.

"Stop, Bobby, you're making it worse."

"Not being able to do anything is making me feel jumpy," he apologized.

"So we'll do something," I stood up and looked around.

"Cook, we can cook," he smiled in satisfaction. "It'll keep us busy and your sister won't have to cook anything for a while."

"I forgot. Cooking fixes everything," I shook my head with a laugh.

"My mother always cooked in a crisis," Goren recollected. "There was a lot of cooking. But it worked, everything was always better after, until the next crisis."

"In my family, crisis management came out of a bottle." I laughed.

"Everybody has traditions," he smiled. "Let's raid the kitchen.

Luckily for us, Liz kept a well-stocked kitchen and after rummaging through the fridge, freezer and cupboards I decided to make stew in the slow cooker. I could handle throwing the ingredients into the pot and switching it on. Goren opted for minestrone. His suggestion worked. We were kept more than busy enough until we heard Ethan on the monitor.

Ethan was happy enough to see me and laughed while I changed him, but he wasn't thrilled to see Goren. He buried his face in my shoulder as soon as he saw him.

"I need to make him a bottle, but I can't do that and hold him," I told Goren.

"I'll take him," Goren held out his hands.

"I don't think he's going to like that," I wasn't convinced.

"You'll be much faster at making the bottle," he pointed out.

"Are you ready?" I winced.

Ethan started crying and reaching for me as soon as I handed him to Goren. I turned toward the kitchen and tried to block it out, but I'd barely finished washing my hands before he'd stopped crying. I didn't hear anything when I was retrieving the formula from the cupboard. As I was mixing it with the water, I heard Ethan chortle. I walked into the living room to find both boys on the floor playing with blocks. At 10 months, Ethan wasn't walking yet, but he could crawl like lightning. Liz was dreading the day he discovered that walking was faster. Goren was on his stomach building towers. Every time they were six or seven blocks high, Ethan would knock them over causing Goren to cry out in dismay. That was the source of Ethan's chortling. It was a scene I had never envisioned. I had no idea Goren would be so good with a baby.

Having Ethan had unleashed a maternal instinct within that I'd never anticipated. Intellectually I knew that Liz was his mother, despite the fact that he was mine genetically, but that didn't do anything to stop my ferocious emotional attachment. Liz had realized that and let me spend as much time with Ethan as I wanted. She believed a child could never be loved too much. I had visited often but it was only recently that it had stopped tearing me up inside every time. Seeing Goren on the floor with Ethan made all of those feelings well up inside of me again. I was trying unsuccessfully to blink back my tears when Goren saw me.

"What is it?" he asked, standing up.

"Nothing," I shook my head.

"Alex?" He bent to pick Ethan up. "Tell me."

"It's too hard to explain," I shook my head again.

"Give me the bottle," he reached for it. "Sit and tell me."

He sat on the couch, leaning back so Ethan was leaning against his chest. Ethan held the bottle himself while he drank. My tears started flowing again.

"C'mere," he beckoned me with his free arm. I accepted his offer, snuggling against his chest.

"Sometimes it's hard," I managed to choke out. "This is making it even harder."

"Seeing me with Ethan?" he squeezed me tighter.

I couldn't answer. I just nodded against his chest.

"I can't begin to imagine how hard it must be," he kissed my hair.

"And I thought the birth was going to be the hard part," I tried to laugh but it sounded like a strangled cough.

"You gave your sister the most generous gift I think it's possible to give."

The emotion I heard in Goren's voice made new tears well up into my eyes. I couldn't hold back a sob.

"Alex," he shifted toward me as much as he could with Ethan on his lap. "I…" he began.

"I'm sorry, Bobby," I took a faltering breath. I looked up to see his eyes filled with sorrow. "I didn't mean to…" I started to stand up.

"Alex," he held onto Ethan with one hand as he reached out to stop me. "I know I can't make this better, but I can listen, I can hold you and I can love you, if you'll let me. Please let me."

I sank back onto the couch and let him pull me against him.

"I know this sounds trite," Goren caressed my back. "But it'll get easier."

"I know," I sniffed. "It just overwhelms me every once in while."

Ethan began to squirm in Goren's lap and pitched his empty bottle. It bounced off the coffee table and landed in the middle of the room.

"Done?" Goren asked him, making me laugh, in spite of myself.

As I watched him take Ethan back over to the blocks, I realized that Goren was only going to make my relationship with my nephew that much better. Goren had started to build another tower but Ethan had other ideas. He'd retrieved a book from the shelf under the table and gave it to Goren, knocking the tower down at the same time.

"Reading it is," Goren chuckled and lifted Ethan onto his lap.

"Will you two be okay if I go and get Ethan's dinner ready?" It was almost 5 o'clock and I knew from experience that Ethan would get cranky if his schedule was changed.

"We're great," Goren smiled up at me.

"I love you, Bobby," I bent to kiss him softly, before heading to the kitchen.

Goren and I had the minestrone, while I fed Ethan the food that Liz prepared herself and kept frozen. He also enjoyed the little pieces of pasta as well as some broth that Goren fed him, although he ended wearing most of it. When dinner was over, we cleaned Ethan up, put him in the stroller and headed to the park. While I pushed Ethan on the swing, Goren called his mother. On the way back Goren managed to find a paper box that wasn't sold out of the Sunday Times. The man had a serious addiction to newspapers. I'd had no idea when to expect Liz and Brian so I had left a note for Liz and Brian, but they weren't home when we got back.

After giving Ethan a bath, I gave him another bottle and then walked him to sleep. Liz and Brian were having an ongoing fight about Ethan's bedtime ritual. Brian thought Ethan should just be put into his crib and allowed to cry himself to sleep. Liz wanted to wait until he was a year old. Brian thought Liz was babying Ethan. Liz argued that Ethan was a baby. It was argument I didn't want to get in the middle of, but I also didn't want to be the one to let Ethan cry himself to sleep. By 8:30, Goren had Ethan in the crib. By 9:30, we'd cleaned the kitchen, put the soup in the fridge and unplugged the slow cooker.

"Now I know why new parents complain about their sex lives," I chuckled when we finally sat down. "Movie?"

"I guess," he didn't sound interested.

"What then?" So far, our time had been spent really only doing one thing and I wasn't planning to have sex on my sister's couch.

"I dunno, talk?" he suggested.

"Okay," I turned to face him.

"Sit here," he patted his lap.

I was hoping he didn't want to revisit our earlier conversation. I was feeling better and wanted to stay that way, but I wouldn't say no to his lap.

"What do you want to talk about?"

"Nothing in particular," he put his hands around my waist.

"Was this just a ruse?"

"No," he laughed. "Well, maybe a little, but I did think it would be nice to talk."

"But you don't want to talk about anything in particular," I didn't get it.

"No, just a conversation."

"This just seems awkward," I complained.

"We just have to think of something to talk about that isn't work or sex," he smiled.

"Or food," I laughed. "We talk about food a lot, too."

"Or politics or religion," he added with a laugh. "What's left?"

"Sports?" I suggested

"That would probably start our first fight," he joked.

Goren and I disagreed about which New York baseball team was best, and no amount of talking would change either of our minds.

"I don't think you can force a conversation, Bobby. They just happen."

"Okay, if you couldn't be a cop anymore, what would you do?"

"Why can't I be a cop anymore?" For as long as I could remember it had never occurred to me to do anything else except follow in my father's footsteps.

"I dunno, the world's been overrun by a virus that makes everyone obey the law and cops are now obsolete. What would you do?"

"I'd be a groundskeeper at Yankee Stadium," I couldn't resist getting a dig in. "What about you? And you can't work at Shea Stadium."

"I might teach," he said thoughtfully.

"What would you teach?" I was curious. "What age?"

"Probably college," he tilted his head as he thought. "They're there 'cause they want to learn."

"What subject?" I was trying to imagine Goren in front of a class.

"Something where I could keep learning, too," he nodded.

"Well there's a lot you could learn about computers," I teased.

"I meant something I was interested in, not a tool I'd use in research," he furrowed his brow at me.

"Research? So something in the sciences?"

"No, maybe history?"he postulated.

"What is there to research in history? It's already written down." I'd hated having to regurgitate all those dates and names.

"Well, you know what they say; history is written by the victors. I'd like to know the truth."

"That's cheating. That's just being a detective."

"I didn't say you couldn't be a detective, just not a cop. You could be a doctor or an archaeologist, an astrophysicist, maybe?"

"Maybe I could go to cooking school and become a chef."

"It's all about food with you, isn't it?" He pulled me into a kiss.

"Mmm," I settled into his kiss. "That's your influence."

"Ya, I doubt I could influence you into anything you didn't want to do." He looked into my eyes.

"Those eyes could influence me to do a lot." I leaned in to kiss him again. His mouth opened to meet mine and I was lost, forgetting where I was until I heard Brian's voice.

"God Liz, doesn't seem to matter how old the sitter is, we always come home to find her making out on our couch with her boyfriend."

"So I'm assuming your mother is doing okay?" I blinked placidly at him.

"Right, she's going to be fine," he winced as Liz walked by and punched him in the arm. "They have her scheduled for an angioplasty on Tuesday."

"What smells so good in here?" Liz sat in the armchair opposite Goren and me.

"We needed to do something while Ethan was napping," I explained, "so we cooked."

"Uh, you cooked?" She gave me a questioning look.

"Ya, I made stew which is still cooling and should go in the fridge. Goren made minestrone which is already in containers in the fridge."

"You still call him Goren?" Brian sat down on the arm of Liz's chair.

"Goren when she's talking about me, Bobby when she's talking to me." Goren explained with a smile.

"Any other questions?" Liz gave Brian a look to shut him up.

"Uh, how was Ethan?" He recovered quickly.

"Great." I smiled. "He wasn't sure about Goren at first, but then they bonded over blocks. After supper we went to the park and played on the swing for an hour, then it was to bath and to bed."

"I can't thank you two enough," Liz gushed. "It was comforting to know he was in good hands."

"It's not often I'd be able to help out last minute so I'm glad it worked out." I stood up.

"I wasn't given you the bum's rush," Liz stood up quickly.

"Oh, I know," I laughed, "but we should hit the road and I'm sure you're both tired after spending the day at the hospital."

"And I've got gut rot after drinking all that hospital coffee," Brian made a sour face.

"You're being quite the charmer tonight, Brian." Liz rolled her eyes.

"He's been through a lot today, he's allowed." Goren sided with Brian.

"What's his excuse the rest of the time?" Liz asked dryly.

"Can't help you there," Goren reached for Brian's hand to shake it.

"You won't be the golden boy forever," Brian warned Goren. "These two will turn on you soon enough."

"I have no idea what he's talking about," I smiled sweetly at Goren.

"Ya, I bet," he laughed as he opened the door.

"Good night and let me know how it goes on Tuesday," I gave Liz a hug.

"Thanks again," Liz called as we headed to the car.

"This isn't how I was hoping our weekend would turn out, Bobby," I complained as we drove home.

"Ya, not exactly quiet," he reached for my hand. "But we still have tomorrow," he reminded me. "We could try for that day in bed again."

"I don't know if I should get my hopes up," I chuckled.

"I'll do everything in my power to make sure it happens. I have plans," he smiled at me.

"What kind of plans?" I started to feel warm.

"I plan to memorize every inch of you." His voice was gravelly.

"I like the sound of that." I had gone past warm.

"If I wasn't worried about getting caught, I'd pull over and start right now," he gave my hand a squeeze.

"First babysitting, now parking?" I chuckled. "I'd take you up on that if I wasn't worried about getting caught, too."

"Don't worry, we're almost home."

"Not soon enough."

Goren and I didn't make it to the bed. Our clothes formed a path from the front door to the bedroom. He ended up on the floor leaning against it. I was on his lap with my legs wrapped around his waist. Even though he was already inside of me, we were focused on kissing. I loved his mouth. I loved the way his lips felt against mine, the way his tongue could be soft and gentle or firm and probing. I loved the way he used his teeth to graze my skin. I used my own teeth on his neck as I slowly began to move my hips. This position allowed us a lot of access to each other, but not a lot of leverage. I certainly wouldn't be rushing to orgasm the way I had been recently.

"Is this what they mean by tantric," I paused from kissing his neck.

"Very kama sutra," he breathed, "I like it."

"I never would have guessed." I was watching his eyes as I continued to move slowly. "Your eyelids don't flutter."

"What?" His hands had moved to my ass.

"You said my eyelids flutter when we make love." I reminded him. "Yours get really heavy like you can't keep them open."

"I have to fight to keep them open so I can watch you."

"God Bobby, I love the things you say."

"Kiss me."

"Ya, things like that." I smiled as I leaned into meet his lips. Goren used his hands on my ass to help me move. Apparently this time things weren't moving fast enough for him.

"More," he moaned.

"Is tantric not working for you?"

"It worked." His eyes were burning into me. "Too well, I need more."

"Take it, take what you need."

Goren didn't need me to say it twice. "Bed," his voice sounded strained as lifted me up.

I had barely lain down before his mouth closed over mine. I wrapped my legs around his waist. I wanted him inside of me again. He was supporting himself on one arm. He slid the other hand under my ass. Although he slid into me gently, he quickly began to fuck me harder than he ever had before. What had begun as tantric had developed into pure lust.

"Yes, Bobby," I panted. "God, yes, so good."

They were the last coherent words I was able to form. Feeling Goren's lust was incredible. I loved that he finally let himself go. He used his hand under my ass to tilt my hips. Each stroke sent delicious vibrations through me. His voice, breathing my name into my ear, created a tingling sensation of its own. The harder his thrusts became the louder his voice in my ear grew. As my climax overtook me, my body became taut and I arched into his chest.

"Yes, Alex," he began to tense. "Yes," he repeated, sounding as if he was struggling to breathe as he, too, succumbed.

"Mmm, Bobby," I murmured contently when I could speak. "Kiss me."

He was still breathing hard when he did as I asked. He slid his hand out from under me and caressed my hair. When he tried to roll us onto our sides, I stopped him.

"Stay like this," I explained when his lips left mine. "I like it."

"Okay," he pressed his lips to mine again, briefly. "You know what I like?" his lips moved to my neck.

"What?" I sighed, enjoying his attention.

"The way you come," his tongue flicked my earlobe.

"Ya, you've mentioned that," I gave him a squeeze.

"I like the way you look when you come when I can see your face and I like the way you feel when I can't," he pushed himself up to look at me. His eyes were still dark.

"The way I feel?" I wasn't sure what he meant.

"Your muscles contract," he began to explain. "Everywhere," he added with a smile. "If I'm close, I don't stand a chance, you take me with you."

"I like it when that happens," I confessed.

"I like it the way your body vibrates," he kissed me gently. "Inside, too."

"I can feel you, too," I let my fingers play in his hair.

"You know what else I like?" His lips had moved to my jaw line.

"What?

"The way your nipples get so hard," he continued to explore my face with his lips. "You press yourself against me and I can feel how hard they are."

"I can honestly say I've never noticed that," I laughed. "But while we're on the subject of what we like," I paused to make him lift his head to look at me. "I really like that you didn't hold back."

"I only completely let go when I knew it was okay," he admitted.

"Oh, more than okay," I corrected him. "I'm not saying I want sex to be like that every time, but..."

"You told me it was okay when you said to take what I needed," he looked at me in what seemed like admiration or maybe awe.

"I needed it, too," I couldn't help grinning at him. "Okay, I have to get up now."

"Are you getting ready for bed?" he asked as he rolled off of me and propped himself up on his elbow.

"Ya, it's been a long couple of days." I explained as I headed to the door.

"We'll make up for it tomorrow," he reminded me with a smile as he stood up and began to pull back the covers.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Our Monday turned out exactly the way we'd planned. We spent it mostly naked, mostly in bed. Having been mostly in bed led us to a couple of showers and also the need to keep up our strength. Goren kept his promise and explored my body from head to toe several times. Knowing him, he probably actually had memorized every inch of me. I learned a couple of things about myself, like the effect his mouth had on the backs of my knees and the palms of my hands. But I learned things about him, too. Like the way I could drive him to distraction by kissing and nibbling his ears or how he loved the feeling of my hair against any part of his skin.

Aside from napping, the only other thing we did was read the paper and when Goren read the paper, he read the paper. He didn't browse or skim and apart from the home and garden section, he read the entire thing. Although he admitted he didn't usually read the style section. He even read the letters to the editor, explaining that it was one of the best ways to find out what people were really thinking. I was surprised that he was more than happy to share the paper with me and let me read sections before he'd had a chance to. He was also happy to let me read articles to him, leaning back and closing his eyes to listen. At one point while I was reading to him, he'd opted to do some more exploring which led me to lose my focus and the paper was put aside for a while. I also attempted to do the crossword with him, but I mostly just leaned against him and watched. Some of the answers I never would have come up with and he was writing most of them down before I'd even figured out where they went in the puzzle. Even though it was Monday, I was planning to make this our Sunday ritual.

On Tuesday morning Goren woke me up to make love. When the alarm rang I wanted to pitch it across the room. I wasn't ready to leave our cocoon. The world, however, would march on, whether I liked it or not, so I forced myself to get out of bed. Goren had coffee and toast waiting for me when I was finished in the bathroom. Even though I'd showered first, he left ahead of me. If anyone had taken a serious look at us, it would have been obvious what was going on. Goren hadn't slept at his place in almost a week and his car was always parked at my place, but we still drove in separately in order to keep up appearances.

After spending an hour in the computer lab we emerged with a digitally-aged image of John Harrison. We left a copy with Deakins and then headed over to Staten Island to visit Carolann Moffat's mother. Despite the fact that it had been 12 years, I could tell Catherine Moffat's wounds were still fresh. I could also tell from her responses that we were asking her the same questions she'd answered many times before. However, when Goren asked her about John Harrison, she looked at both of us in turn, the distance in her eyes had changed to focus. No one had asked her that question before.

"Johnny Harrison? I haven't thought about him in ages."

"How well do you know him?" I opened my notebook.

"He grew up in the neighbourhood," she sat forward in her chair.

"How well did he know Carolann?" Goren asked quietly.

"He's the same age as my son, Brent, so he spent a lot of time here when they were in grade school. Once they got high school Johnny and Brent went their separate ways. Brent was athletic, Johnny tried out, but never made any of the school teams, so I didn't see much of him for a long time, but then..." she hesitated.

"Then what?" Goren prompted. "Did he start hanging around again?"

"A lot of boys did," she smiled sadly. "Carolann was tall and awkward for most of high school, but in her senior year she was scouted by a modelling agency when she was at the mall. After that she was transformed."

"More confident," Goren nodded.

"Yes and she learned about how to dress, how to do her make-up, how to walk even. The boys were like flies to honey."

"And John Harrison was one of those flies?" I guessed, although I already knew the answer.

"Yes, but they were friends, you know," Catherine stood up from her chair. The thought that John had been involved in her daughter's death was agitating her. "Carolann talked to him about everything that was going on in her life. Her photo shoots, the people she was meeting, how everyone was treating her differently – even her teachers. How she was getting a lot more attention from boys. She told me that Johnny helped keep her grounded; he was such a good listener. She was dating a college boy and she used to complain to Johnny about him all of the time, right here in this kitchen."

"When was the last time you saw him?" Goren wanted to know.

"The funeral, I think," she tried to recall. "I don't remember seeing him after that."

"Thank you for your help," Goren stood up and offered her his hand.

"Do you really think it was him?" she took his hand, but didn't shake it.

"At this point we can't say, Mrs. Moffat. I'm sorry," I apologized. "And please don't tell anyone about our conversation. We are making progress and we wouldn't want anything to interfere with that."

"When will you be able to tell me anything?" she was still clutching Goren's hand.

"As soon as anything becomes a matter of public record," I explained. "I'll let you know before the media gets a hold of it," I promised.

Goren and I were quiet once we were back in the car. Neither of us liked to talk to families. We rarely had good news for them.

"Should we stop by Bryant Park?" Goren asked after ten minutes.

"Didn't they just start setting up? I doubt there'll be anyone to talk to."

"I drove by on the way in this morning. One of the tents is already up," he remarked offhandedly.

"If that's what you want to do," I acquiesced. "But you'll have to feed me first. That toast was a long time ago."

Bryant Park was a hive of activity. People were scurrying everywhere and no one stopped us when we went into the only tent that was up. There were at least four more in various stages of assembly. Inside wasn't well lit. There were extension cords everywhere running portable lights, which led to semi-darkness sporadically interrupted by pools of light.

While the lighting may have been limited, there was no shortage of noise. Foremen were shouting instructions about lighting and scaffolding and ventilation overtop of the workers talking to each other about the same things, but over top of all of that was a rather harsh French accented voice practically screeching.

Once my eyes adjusted, I could see the voice was emanating from a rather short, rotund, bald man. He was shrieking at a model who was walking down a gap in the equipment that he was using as a makeshift runway. The girl didn't seem do be doing anything right.

"Gisele is so '90s and you are not a horse. NO stomping!"

She stopped and slumped her shoulders defeatedly.

"Keep you shoulders back and don't move them, or your arms. Keep your head high and Mon Dieu, don't smile!"

She muttered something that I couldn't hear and her critic ignored.

"Again," he clapped his hands.

"The glamorous life of models," Goren lowered his voice to whisper since we'd almost reached them.

"No kidding," I laughed.

"Excuse me," Goren raised his voice. "I was wondering if we could ask you some questions."

"No press," he waved us off without turning around.

"This isn't a press pass, it's an NYPD badge." I held mine up as well.

"What do the police want with me?" he asked disdainfully.

"With you?" Goren tilted his head. "Nothing. It's these young women you're haranguing we'd like to talk to."

"So talk," he shook his head in annoyance. "But this one stays with me until she gets the walk right or I throw her out on her fat ass."

I couldn't help rolling my eyes. She was at least 7 or 8 inches taller than me and I probably had 10 pounds on her. Her ass was anything but fat.

"Why don't we give them some room?" Goren smiled and ushered the women away from the Frenchman. "Do any of you recognize this man?" he showed them a card with both the DMV photo and the aged version on it.

Most of the women had gathered around him to look at the picture, but four were peering at my copy. I was used to feeling short around Goren, but some of these women were taller than him in their heels. There was a lot of hair flipping and necklace fidgeting going on in Goren's camp. I was used to women flirting with him and I just found it amusing. He, of course, played on it, hoping to get more information.

None of my group recognized the photos of John Harrison. I wasn't surprised. We had aged an already bad DMV picture.

"Have any of you worked Fashion Week before?" I tried a different angle.

"I have," a distinctly Irish voice answered.

"Can I talk to you over here then?" I nodded her away from the group.

"Those are smart boots," she commented as we picked our way to a pool of light in a quieter spot. The other girls had drifted back toward Goren.

"Thanks," I smiled. I hadn't really put much thought into what I chose this morning. I had on jeans and a white tank top, even though it was after Labor Day.

"And those jeans really complement your figure," she continued. "I find a lot of smaller women don't know how to adapt the designer looks for their bodies, but you've done a nice job."

I looked down at my tank and jeans, unsure of what to say.

"Sorry, I tend to run off at the mouth," she laughed and touched my arm. "What did you want to ask me, um, sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"Detective Eames," I smiled.

"Neve Slattery," she offered me her hand. "It's spelled N-i-a-m-h, but pronounced Neve. My mother insisted on Irish names," she explained, watching me cross it out and spell it correctly. "Am I supposed to call you Detective?"

"No, you can call me Alex," I couldn't help smiling at her.

"As in Alexandra?" she asked. "Alexandra is so much prettier, can I call you that?" she touched my arm again.

"Sure," I was beginning to wonder if I was ever going to get to my questions. I flipped my notebook to a fresh page.

"See, I'm running off at the mouth again," she giggled and flipped her curly black hair over her shoulder. "It drives Claude mad," she nodded toward the Frenchman. "What did you want to know," she leaned closer and began to play with the heart pendant on her necklace.

It all made sense: the compliments, the chattering, the touches, now the hair and necklace. I'd found one who wanted to flirt with me instead of Goren. I decided to try to take advantage of it like he always did.

"Well, over the past couple of years we've had some complaints during Fashion Week," I began.

"About a creeper?" she jumped in before I could finish. "Was that man in the picture a creeper? Oh, Alexandra, there are so many," she sighed. "The fashion industry is like a magnet for them. If it's not the photographer who tries to talk you into posing for 'art photos', it's the dresser who cops of feel of your tit at every change during the show."

"So no one in particular made you feel more uncomfortable than normal?" It sounded horrible as soon as I'd said it.

"Like made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up?" she thought for a minute. "You know what?" her hand was on my arm again. "A lot of the girls think that Bryant Park is haunted. They say every Fashion Week one girl disappears. Kind of like Phantom of the Opera," she had leaned closer in confidence.

"But you don't know anyone that's gone missing?" I turned toward her a little more and tilted my head slightly. Goren was better at flirting with women than I was.

"Well a couple of years ago there was one girl," she pursed her lips as she thought. "But I can't remember her name," she shook her black curls. "But you can't possibly think there's a phantom?" her eyes widened, her hand went to my shoulder and she moved even closer to me. We were now only inches apart.

"No, not a phantom. The guy we're looking for is flesh and blood," I assured her and touched her free hand.

"Well, thank Jesus," she gave my hand a quick squeeze.

"And we think he may be bothering the models during Fashion Week," I explained. "I know you can't remember her name, but do you remember anyone paying her any unwanted attention; that girl who went missing?"

"Not that I can remember, Alexandra, but it's insane during a show and afterward I'm usually exhausted, so I don't think I would've noticed unless that attention was being paid to me. I'm so sorry," Niamh apologized.

"Don't worry about," I looked up from my notes to see Goren approaching us.

"That's a very pretty necklace," Niamh picked up the diamond teardrop pendant I usually wear.

"This is my partner, Detective Goren," I told her, but she was still inspecting my necklace. "This is Niamh Slattery," I told Goren.

"Hi," Goren held out his hand, but Niamh didn't look at him.

"Hi," she responded distractedly. "Is that a real diamond, Alexandra? It's gorgeous," she was inches away from my face.

"Thanks," I smiled. "Let me give you my card so you can call me if you remember anything."

"That'll be great," she beamed, dropping my necklace. "Is it from your man?" she whispered in my ear.

"My sister," I told her.

"All my sister ever gave me was a headache," she laughed and straightened up.

I retrieved a card from my back pocket and handed it to her.

"I'll put my thinking cap on," she winked at me. "Nice to meet you," she nodded at Goren as she headed back toward the rest of the girls.

"Wow," Goren shook his head when she was out of earshot. "She was pressing hard."

"I think I led her on," I felt guilty.

"Whatever you did it worked, Alexandra," he mimicked her accent. "I think you'll be hearing from her soon. Should I be worried?" He had a look of mock fear on his face.

"Stop it. I feel bad enough," I glared at him. "What did you get?"

"Nothing," he shook his head as he held the door open for me.

The mid-afternoon sunlight blinded me as we stepped outside. Goren grabbed his sunglasses from his jacket pocket. I'd left mine in the car.

"No one I talked to recognized the pictures," I told him as my eyes adjusted to the light. "But Niamh remembered that one girl went missing a few years ago."

"I didn't even get that much," he zipped up his case. "We'll have to try again tomorrow."

"You didn't hear about the phantom of Bryant Park?" I chuckled.

"Uh, no. Did you get that from Niamh?" he grinned.

"Ya, the models have noticed that girls are going missing because they think Bryant Park is haunted." I turned my back to the sun and was looking up at him as I spoke. Over the summer, the tan on Goren's face had deepened and looked especially dark against the white shirt he was wearing. His suit, his tan, and his sunglasses made him look like he belonged at Fashion Week, or maybe in Milan, at a cafe. I'd have to ask Goren if he'd ever considered an Italian vacation. I had no problem picturing us in a breezy room in a villa in Tuscany.

I was surprised out of my reverie by his voice in my ear.

"I can tell by your eyes you're not thinking about work." His tone made me tingle.

"Sorry," I blinked my eyes quickly. "I like the way you look in those sunglasses."

"Well, I like it when you look at me like that," he kept his voice quiet.

"Have you ever considered an Italian vacation?" I think I was still looking at him the way he liked.

"I am now, but let's not talk about it at work," he nodded toward the car. "I have a hard enough time staying focused."

"You seem to be doing better than I am," I pointed out as we began to walk to the car.

"I've had almost a year to practise," he reminded me.

"When we arrived back at one PP we briefed Deakins on our conversation with Mrs. Moffat and how we'd struck out at Bryant Park.

"Well, Eames didn't exactly strike out," Goren decided to share.

"Shut up," I rolled my eyes at him.

Deakins first looked at Goren, then me, the shifted back to Goren. "Well," he crossed his arms.

"Share if you want," I stood up. "I have work to do."

I heard Deakins laughing before I made it back to my desk.

"Was that really necessary?" I sighed when Goren sat down at his desk.

"It's good cover," he leaned to say.

"What? That I'm gay?" I didn't understand his reasoning.

"That we rib each other like partners do," he corrected me.

"I have the answers back from Sylvie's parents," I changed the subject to the folder I'd found waiting on my desk when we got back.

"And?" he opened the leather case.

"Umm," I paused as I read. "She modelled with Ford, she had no exclusive contracts and," I laughed making Goren look up from the notes he was taking. "She didn't have a boyfriend, she had a girlfriend."

"I'm sensing a pattern here," he chuckled. "But that rules out her lover," his voice turned serious.

"And one more thing," I handed him the page. "The last line."

"A bouncer named Jack was bothering her at a club," he jumped up. "Enough that she told her parents about it."

Goren was pulling his chair up beside mine before I even had my laptop open.

"Jack seems like a perfect alias for Johnny," I raised my eyebrows at him.

Our search efforts turned out to be fruitless. I couldn't find any Jack Harrison with the same birth date as John and no DMV photos that were even close. Goren asked me to try Jack and John Harris, but there were hundreds. I narrowed my search to those born two years plus or minus John Harrison's birth year, but I only ended up with eye strain.

"He may not have been imaginative with his first name," I sighed. "But it looks like he was with his last."

Goren didn't respond. I could tell he was frustrated by how close we were to catching this guy, but Johnny Harrison was staying just outside of our reach.

"Here," I handed him the laptop. "Try a straight Google search with those names." I closed my eyes while he typed.

"Too many hits," he sighed.

"Are you onto something?" Deakins voice startled me. He appeared to be on his way out. When I glanced at the clock, I was surprised to see that it was almost 5:30.

"Yes and no," Goren handed the laptop back to me. "We know he uses the name Jack, sometimes, but it hasn't led anywhere."

"All you can do is try Bryant Park again tomorrow," Deakins offered little consolation. "Call it a day, you both look beat. You'll need time to get ready if you have a date tonight, Detective Eames." He walked out of the squad room chuckling to himself.

"How long before it makes the newsletter?" I didn't find it as amusing as they did.

"I haven't finished drafting the submission yet," he laughed as he stood up. "Let's go," he nodded toward the elevator.

We rode down with several other people so we couldn't talk. Goren took out his cell phone and pressed and held one number. I almost laughed when my cell phone rang.

"Eames," I answered.

Goren didn't answer me, acting like he was still waiting for someone on the other end to answer.

"Oh hi," I greeted my pretend caller.

"Hi there," he returned my greeting after a long pause. "I have to go to the dry cleaner and then I thought I'd stop to pick up some groceries too," he told me.

I didn't answer because I thought it would be too obvious. He could've called me once we were in our cars, but I knew he was doing this for fun.

"I'll see you at home," he lowered his voice.

After pausing for a couple of seconds I said goodbye and closed my phone.

"Love you, too," he said to dead air. "Bye."

"Night," I nodded to him when we left the elevator.

"See you tomorrow, Eames" he gave me a cursory smile.

By the time I got to my car the laugh that I'd been suppressing had dissipated but I couldn't help smiling to myself. I knew Goren wanted to shout how much he loved me from the mountain tops, which left me wishing he was here in the car with me.

Once at home I decided to take a bath while I waited for him. In the last week, we'd been showering together and while I thoroughly enjoyed being wet and naked with him, I missed having a soak. I had my eyes closed and my feet up on the end of the tub when I heard Goren call my name. Either he was faster than I thought he'd be or I'd drifted off.

"I'm in the tub," I called back.

"Can I come in?" he asked after knocking softly on the door.

"Sure," I answered lazily.

"Would you like a glass of wine?" he smiled when he saw me lounging.

"That would be great," I was feeling very hedonistic.

He came back with two glasses. After setting one down on the shelf where I kept my bath products, he handed the other to me. When I took it, he bent down and kissed me softly.

"I miss being able to do that whenever I want," he smiled and began to straighten up.

"Another kiss," I grabbed his arm to stop him. "I miss it, too."

Our next kiss was far longer. My free hand went to the back of his head. I took my time with his mouth. First I kissed his top lip, then his bottom, caressing each with my tongue. He sank back to his knees and grasped the edge of the tub.

"Glass," I said against his lips.

"Mmm," he took it from me and I heard it clink against the floor as he set it down.

As I put both hands around his neck and returned to his lips, I suddenly realized how much I needed to kiss him. I felt like I couldn't get close enough. Goren's hands were sliding down toward my ass. He tried to lift me but his hands slipped. On his next attempt, his hands gripped a little lower, almost between my legs and he dragged me from the tub, getting up as he did. He was completely drenched from all the water he brought with me. As soon as my feet hit the floor I began to work on his belt while he unbuttoned his shirt. When I was tossing his belt aside my hand brushed against his erection. I forgot my goal of getting him naked and began to stroke his cock, making him inhale sharply. I loved it when I got that reaction. I wanted more. In seconds, his pants and boxers were down and I had his cock in my mouth.

"Oh." It became four syllables as he exhaled. He leaned back against the vanity as I teased him with my tongue. Goren was trying to say something, but I heard nothing coherent. I looked up to find him watching me. His eyes were almost black and his lips were parted. His eyelids were trying to close, but he fought to keep them open. I decided to give him something to watch. I did everything in slow motion. The stroking of his shaft, the swirling of my tongue; I took my time with everything. When I looked up to see if it was having the desired effect, he groaned loudly. That was definitely the desired effect. His cock had grown impossibly hard and I could tell he was close. I wanted to prolong his pleasure but when I slowed down even more, I could tell there was no going back. This time when I looked up his eyes were closed, but his mouth was hanging open. His body tensed and then shook as he groaned my name.

When he stopped shaking, he slid down the vanity until he hit the floor. He pulled me onto his lap and wrapped him arms around me. When I snuggled against his chest I could feel his heart pounding.

"Let's go to the bedroom," his voice was soft in my ear.

"It must be close to 7, Bobby," I reminded him.

He sighed and leaned his head against the vanity.

"I'll hold you to your bedroom offer, though," I smiled unabashedly at him.

"I love you," his eyes were fixed on mine. I knew his sentiment was unrelated to the blow job I'd just given him.

"And I love you," I gave him a quick kiss. "Go call your mother and I'll clean up in here."

"You know, all I wanted to do was watch you in the tub and drink some wine together," he smiled at me as he helped me off of his lap.

"So now you're a voyeur?" I chuckled.

"Are you asking me if I like to look at you when you're naked?" There was amusement in his voice as he reached for his boxers. "They're soaked," he held them up, dripping wet.

"So get a clean pair," I offered him my hand. "I guess I'll do some laundry, too." I laughed.

"You don't have to do it all the time, I could help," he suggested.

"No offense, Bobby," I patted his arm. "But I don't trust you with my clothes."

"I can read labels," he looked like he had taken offense.

"I don't have to read the labels," I explained. "I remember the washing instructions from when I bought my clothes. I look before I buy. Besides, I don't always do what it says on the label. I like expensive clothes, so I take extra care of them. And you really don't want to ruin something I love, Bobby."

"Okay, okay," he held his hands up in surrender. "You can do the laundry."

"But I'm willing to give up vacuuming," I informed him as he picked up the wine glasses.

"Deal," he smiled.

It took several towels to dry the bathroom floor. Goren's clothes were soaked. His suit pants would have to go to the cleaners, the rest I could wash. When I opened the bathroom, I was surprised to smell cooking aromas. I could hear that he was still talking to his mother. After pulling on an old pair of jeans and a t-shirt, I started to gather up laundry, but I was interrupted by my phone. I couldn't stop from heaving a sigh. I didn't want to be interrupted by work.

"Eames," I answered, hoping not to sound perturbed.

"Alexandra?"

I recognized Niamh's voice right away.

"Niamh, how are you?"

"I'm great, and you?"

"I'm fine. What can I do for you?" I was hoping not to be roped into a long conversation.

"I remembered the name of that girl that went missing," she sounded pleased with herself.

"Let me get my notebook," I opened the bedroom door. I'd left it on the table by the door.

"No problem. Were any of the other girls able to help?" she asked as I walked.

Goren turned from the stove as I went by with my phone at my ear. A grin spread across his face.

"No. Okay here we go," I told her cheerfully as I picked it up.

"Her name was Cara," she informed me proudly.

"Do you remember her last name?" I enquired as I wrote it down.

"No, sorry," she told me quietly.

"Okay, I'll check this against the names of missing girls I've compiled. Thank you, Niamh." I'd walked back to the bedroom.

"Before you hang up, Alexandra," she stopped me. "I was wondering if you'd like to get together for a drink?"

"Thank you for asking, Niamh, but I'm already in a relationship," I'd been hoping not to have to address this.

"Oh well, you can't blame a girl for trying," she giggled.

"I'm very flattered, though, Niamh. I've never been asked out by a model," I told her honestly.

"Well your partner is very lucky," she sighed.

"Thanks again," I tried not to laugh at the use of the word partner. "Bye."

It took me two trips to get all of the laundry to the washing machine. On my first trip, Goren turned his head to watch me walk by. When I returned he was leaning against the counter, phone still in hand. He smiled and lifted his eyebrows at me as I walked by. I assumed he'd guessed who my phone call was from. I was more interested in how he looked in the t-shirt and jeans he'd chosen to wear. Once I had the laundry underway I went back to kitchen where I found dinner on the table.

"That was fast," I laughed.

"Italian fast food," he smiled. "I asked my mother what I could make for you that was fast. She suggested sausage and peppers."

"You told her you were cooking for me?" I was a little surprised.

"It was actually one of the best conversations we've had in a while," he didn't seem to think it was a big deal. "She likes it that you eat."

"That I eat?" I repeated, puzzled.

"Not just rabbit food," he clarified. "I already told you that food was very important in my house."

I dug into the meal hungrily. Lunch had been a long time ago. It was moderately spiced, enough that it had a kick, but not enough to make my nose run.

"Good," I said with my mouth full as I reached for my wine.

"I'll tell my mom you liked it," he looked over his wine glass at me with darkened eyes. I knew that meant only one thing.

"What?" my mouth was full again.

"Just a little more voyeurism," he grinned at me.

I looked down to discover that my nipples were pushing out proudly against my t-shirt. I hadn't bothered with a bra and my nipples betrayed the fact that I was still aroused. I thought he'd been grinning at me because he knew it was Niamh on the phone.

"Is that Niamh or me?" he grinned at me.

"What do you think?"

"I think that looks sexier than if you were sitting there naked," his voice sent shivers through me.

"God, Bobby," I was suddenly only hungry for one thing and it wasn't on my plate.

He looked surprised when I stood up and practically pounced on him. I could taste the wine on his lips when my mouth closed over his. He pushed the table away to give me more room as I straddled his legs. I'd barely had a chance to sit before his hands were under my shirt. When I felt his thumbs against my nipples, I gasped and rocked my hips against his burgeoning erection.

In an instant his hands were on my ass and he was standing up. Again, I was being carried to the bedroom. When he put me down, I dispensed with my clothes as quickly as I could. As soon as he was naked, Goren picked me up and lay me on the bed, trapping his arm underneath me. He left it there and lay down beside me. His mouth covered mine and our open mouth kissing soon left me breathless.

His free hand had travelled to my knee and he used it to gently pull my legs apart. He hummed into my mouth when he discovered how wet I already was. He eased two fingers inside of me and I groaned at the sensation. My hips rose off the bed as my body strove for deeper contact. His thumb found my clit and I shuddered immediately. His mouth left mine and I saw he was wearing a satisfied smile.

"I'm already close, Bobby," I warned him.

"I know," he watched my face as his thumb swirled again. "Want me to slow down?"

"Yes," I groaned as I arched my head back, still keeping my eyes on his.

"I'll try," he slid his fingers back out and began to stroke my thigh. Shifting his weight, he bent his head to what had attracted him earlier. His mouth on my breast made me arch off the bed again. While his teeth grazed my nipple, he gently stroked me, but I wanted his fingers inside of me again and told him so.

"That isn't slowing down," he warned me.

"Don't care," I panted.

When his fingers began to slide into me again, my body tightened up right away, but Goren didn't use his fingers to fuck me. Instead he moved his fingers slowly inside of me while I tried to move my hips against his hand. His fingers suddenly stopped above my pubic bone. I'd never actually felt my g-spot, but judging by the growing smile on his face, I knew Goren just had. He began to move his fingers again and I was overwhelmed. A pressure was building up inside of me and I was hot all over. When his thumb found my clit again, I was done. I gasped, every muscle in my body clenched as I shuddered. I could feel myself pulsing against his thumb as waves of burning heat crashed through me.

Once my trembling stopped, he slid his fingers gently out of me. In my post-orgasmic haze, I felt the bed move and then he was repositioning my legs. I smiled when I felt his cock pressing against me, but I was surprised when he just stayed like that.

"Okay?" he asked when I opened my eyes to see what he was doing.

"Oh ya," I breathed.

Goren chose to make love to me slowly, but it made no difference to my orgasms. After each climax I thought it would be impossible to come again, but my body had other ideas. Goren kissed me every time my body quaked, but then pulled back to watch as my next climax built. I was mildly surprised when he stopped moving.

"Can we go onto all fours?"

"Sure," my voice sounded raspy when I answered.

When I was on my hands and knees, I heard Goren sigh as I felt his hand caressing me. I thought I might be in for some more ass worship, but in the next instant he was inside of me.

"You feel so good," he groaned. "C'mere."

"What?" I looked back, not understanding what he wanted.

He bent to put one hand on my stomach and the other between my breasts and then pulled me toward him. I was now kneeling in front of him. Both of his hands went to my breasts and his mouth was on my neck. I covered his hands with mine and I rocked my hips as he continued to fuck me slowly. Each time his thumb and forefinger pinched my nipples, I arched back against him and he groaned. It took me a few times to figure out that the attention he was giving me was causing my internal muscles to tighten and that's what was making him groan. When one of his hands left my breast and travelled south, I knew he was going to use my reactions to make himself come and that realization alone caused me to shudder.

My hand was still on top of his when he found my clit. It was complete sensory overload. His cock was still moving slowly in and out of me. His mouth had found the spot on my neck that makes me wet all on its own. The fingers of his right hand were still on my breast. It only took a few swirls of the fingers of his left for him to achieve his goal. Even through my own shuddering I could feel his body tighten and then shudder with me.

"Amazing," he murmured in my ear once we'd collapsed into a sweaty tangle.

"What?" In my opinion, a lot of amazing things had happened.

"How many orgasms you have," he kissed my ear.

"Jealous?" I chuckled.

"Mmm, maybe a little," I felt his lips smile against me. "But I mostly like how it feels."

"Ya, I noticed that you made me do all the work," I snuggled back against.

"Nice work if you can get it," he laughed at me.

"I wasn't complaining," I let him know. "I just noticed, that's all."

It wasn't even 9 o'clock so we got up and showered. Our recent activities had negated the effects of my bath. Once clean, we reheated our abandoned food. Then while Goren cleaned the kitchen, I went back to the laundry and decided to strip the bed.

"Even the bedspread?" Goren asked as I walked by with my arms full.

"We spend almost as much time on it as we do under it," I explained. "I hate to see what a UV light would reveal."

Goren was done in the kitchen and reading his paper when I got back. I hadn't heard from my sister, so I called to see how her mother-in-law was doing. The surgery had gone well and the doctors expected her mother-in-law to be home by the end of the week. When I complained that she hadn't called me, Liz argued that she had, but got no answer.

"I figured you were busy," I could hear the smirk in her voice.

"You could've left a message," I countered,

"I knew you'd call when you had time."

"How's Ethan?" I changed the subject.

"He's pulling himself up on the furniture," she didn't sound thrilled.

"Be very afraid," I laughed.

"Oh, I am," she laughed with me. "And before I forget, thank you for all the food. I haven't had to cook yet. It's been great."

"It was no trouble."

"When are you and Bobby coming back over so I can cook for you?"

"I can't make promises like that, Liz, you know that."

"I'll understand if you have to cancel. I'm used it, remember?"

"Let me talk to Goren and get back to you, okay?"

"I'll hold you to that," she warned me.

After we'd said our goodbyes, I told Goren about the conversation I'd had with Liz.

"What about next Sunday?" he suggested.

"I was hoping most Sundays would be spent the way we spent yesterday," I complained. "I can still visit Liz while you visit your mother, but she wants us both over."

"I'm assuming she doesn't want us there for the entire day. We could have our time and go over for supper. We won't have to worry about cooking," he pointed out.

"Okay," I agreed reluctantly.

"And I will wake you up next Saturday before I leave. I promise."

"Good thing you're a quick study," I laughed.

I left him to finish his paper while I went back to the laundry. By the time I was ready for bed, I had the last load in the washer. I didn't have to ask Goren to come to bed with me. It had become his new habit. I'd decided it was mostly because of his other new habit of waking me up in the morning to have sex. I thoroughly enjoyed both so I said nothing; I just settled myself on top of him and drifted to sleep as he caressed my back.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Wednesday morning followed the pattern that Goren and I had quickly established and he left the house before I did. Aside from morning sex, our routine had also started to include Goren having coffee ready for me. I savoured the rich dark roast he'd chosen as I switched to work mode. Our plan was to head to Bryant Park midmorning. We hoped to have more luck finding John Harrison this morning. I was surprised when my cell phone rang.

"Hey Eames," he, too, was in work mode. "I was thinking that if Johnny usually works as a bouncer, maybe he's doing security work. It would be a good fit."

"And he'd blend right into the background, just like you said. Anyone else would have too much interaction with the models," I remembered his early thoughts on the case.

"Mmm," he responded noncommittally. "What if they have shifts, Eames? Maybe he's on nights."

"Then we missed him. It's 8:30," I checked the time on the radio. "We can ask about shifts if we don't see him when we're there."

"Why don't we stop by now?" Maybe shift change is at 9?" he suggested

"Shift change won't be at 9," I argued. "But if you want to go, we can go."

"I want to go."

"I'll call Deakins and let him know," I smiled to myself. I'd known what his answer was going to be before I asked.

"And Eames, I remember once you told me surveillance was your strong suit. We're going to need those eagle eyes."

Traffic around Bryant Park was already backed up. It usually took me half an hour to get to work. It took me 45 minutes, including finding parking, before I finally met up with Goren, and Bryant Park was closer. He was waiting with a fresh cup of coffee.

"Thank you," I breathed as I took it from him.

"I knew you'd be long finished the cup I left for you." he smiled at me.

Several more tents were up and a couple more were still being assembled. When we tried to go into the first tent we were stopped by a security guard.

"When is shift change?" I asked after I'd flashed my badge.

"8," he let us know as he held the door open. I looked back at Goren but said nothing.

The lighting had been hooked up, so it was far easier to see than it had been the day before. There were security guards at every entrance, but none were Johnny Harrison. We had the same luck in the second and third tents. By the time we got to the fourth tent I was beginning to wonder if Goren had been right about the night shift, but as we approached the entrance at the far end of the tent, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I touched Goren's arm to let him know. Johnny Harrison wasn't alone. There was a second security guard with him. They were drinking coffee.

"Hey guys," Goren called to them as we flashed our badges. "Can we ask you some questions?"

"Sure," Johnny shrugged. The other guard looked alarmed.

"I'm Detective Goren and this is my partner, Detective Eames. We're investigating some missing persons cases that seemed to be linked to Fashion Week," Goren let them know.

"Is this your first time working here," I asked.

They answered simultaneously. Johnny said no, the other guard said yes.

"Well, we're kind of at a dead end here," Goren shrugged sheepishly. "We know you guys are the eyes and ears here. You know everything that goes on. Am I right?" he grinned and raised his eyebrows.

"Well, yeah," they looked at each other and agreed.

"Our captain is really hounding us on this one," I rolled my eyes.

"Maybe you could help us out?" Goren sounded hopeful.

"I can't think of anything that would be of any help," Johnny told us apologetically.

"That's too bad," I looked at Goren sorrowfully. "Oh, I have an idea!" I smiled toward Johnny. "Maybe you could come with us and look at mug shots – see if you recognize anyone."

"That's a great idea, Eames," Goren slapped me on the back, almost making me spill my coffee. "Could you," he leaned in to read Johnny's nameplate. "Jack? It would help get our captain off our backs."

"I guess," he agreed reluctantly.

"Thank you!" Goren reached for his hand. "When does your shift end?"

"Oh, I'm off the clock," he assured us. "I had the graveyard shift. I was just shooting the breeze."

Or hunting, I thought to myself. "I think our luck may have just changed, Goren," I forced myself to smile.

Jack rode with Goren to 1 PP. I called ahead to tell Deakins we were bringing Jack in to 'help' us. He promised to get Carver there as soon as possible.

"How do you take your coffee, Jack?" I asked him when I met them at the elevator.

"Regular, thanks," he smiled.

He looked like a regular guy, about 5'10", maybe 180 pounds, brown hair, hazel eyes. The very things that created a successful serial killer. They fit right in.

"Eames, let's use one of the interrogation rooms," Goren suggested when we got off at the 11th floor. "It's quieter and Deakins won't keep interrupting us."

"Okay, I'll just grab the coffees, I won't be long," I smiled.

After I dropped the coffee off to them, I told them I'd grab my laptop and be right back. Goren and I'd had no time to talk about our interrogation strategy, so I was just going to have to follow his lead. Once I'd retrieved my laptop, I popped into the viewing room to tell Deakins we'd be doing this off the cuff.

"He goes by Jack Gregory," I let him know. "And you're a pain in our ass," I told him with a smile as I left.

"Here we go," I chirped as I walked into the interrogation room. I was surprised to see that had polished off half of his coffee already.

"I'll set it up," Goren smiled brightly at me. "You sit and drink your coffee."

"Thanks," I smiled as I sat down. Whatever his ruse was, it had already begun because the sweet accommodating partner was new to me.

"Jack was telling me he's been working at Fashion Week since '94," Goren informed me as he turned the laptop toward our guest.

"You must really love your job," I tried to sound impressed.

"I do," he sounded sincere. He took another swig of his coffee as Goren showed him how to click through the pictures.

"I bet you do," Goren winked at him.

"What do you mean?" Jack looked confused.

"Oh, come on," Goren elbowed him. "Let's be honest. We know why he keeps going back, don't we, Eames?"

"It's pretty obvious," I smiled broadly.

Jack's blink rate increased, but he said nothing. Instead he drank more coffee.

"It's the view, isn't it?" Goren grinned. "All those models?"

"What can I say?" he smiled sheepishly. "Who doesn't like models?"

"They aren't really my type, if I'm being honest, Jack," Goren leaned in as though he was sharing a confidence. "You're sitting across the table from my type."

I couldn't stop my eyebrows from shooting up. I had no idea where he was going with this.

"Oops, look," he tilted his head at me. "Now she's mad at me 'cause it was supposed to be a secret."

Jack looked over at me, unsure of what to say.

"But we're all friends here, right?" Goren elbowed Jack again. "Jack's not going to run and squeal to Deakins, are you, Jack?"

"No," Jack shook his head.

"Deakins is already hassling us about this case. Can you imagine what he would do if he found out that I was sleeping with my partner?" Goren's eyes got big.

"No, I can't imagine," I stood up. I'd noticed that Jack had finished his coffee and I wanted to get his cup to the lab as soon as possible. "Would you like another cup," I asked as I picked up both of our cups.

"No thanks," he looked up from the laptop.

"It's terrible coffee, isn't it?" Goren laughed. "That's how it keeps you awake."

"Well, I'm used to it," I shrugged. "I'm going to have another." It would be my fourth coffee of the morning. I hoped my stomach could handle it.

Once out of the interrogation room, I sealed Jack's cup in an evidence bag and asked Detective Bryant to run it down to the lab for me. After quickly grabbing another coffee, I went into the viewing room.

Deakins had an amused look on his face.

"I told you we hadn't gone over the strategy," I rolled my eyes. "I'm just trying to keep up."

"It's pretty entertaining on this side of the glass," he laughed. "Carver's on his way up."

"Wish me luck," I smiled as I opened the door. Carver was rounding the corner when I got into the hall. "You're missing the show," I whispered as he walked by.

"Alex," Goren stood up when I walked in. After taking the coffee out of my hand, he set it on the table. "I'm sorry I didn't ask you first before I shared our secret with Jack. Will you forgive me?" He walked with me to my chair.

"Of course, Bobby, just don't blindside me like that again, okay?" I put my hand on his arm.

"I won't," he smiled. "I promise," he said sincerely as he began to lean in toward me.

I knew immediately that he was coming in for a kiss. I understood that he was trying to win Jack's confidence, but I thought we'd already done that. Now I had no choice but to let Goren kiss me in front of Deakins and Carver. I was worried that my annoyance would show, but as soon as our lips met, my body relaxed. It was nothing like one of our normal kisses. It was almost chaste. Goren's hand went nowhere near my hair and the kiss was over as quickly as it had begun. I could tell my cheeks had turned pink and I hated to think what the conversation was like next door.

"Sorry about that, Jack," Goren returned to his chair. "If I hadn't apologized she would've stewed about it all day and then I would've really been in for it."

Jack chuckled at Goren's confession.

"But I can relax now that I know I'm forgiven," he leaned back in his chair. "Still don't recognize anyone?" He was watching Jack click through the mug shots.

"No, nothing," Jack shook his head.

"See, that's what I don't get about why you like models," Goren changed the subject back. "They're so high maintenance. But look at Alex, she's smart, she's beautiful and sure she was angry with me when I let or secret slip, but you saw that she forgave me right away."

"Ya," Jack shrugged.

"It's not like I had to crawl through broken glass or anything, but models, whew," Goren whistled. "They think they're all that, with the hair and the make up and the clothes," Goren shook her head with a laugh. "I make an okay salary here but I couldn't keep a model happy."

"They do have expensive taste," Jack agreed.

"And they want you to dress like a male model," Goren added.

"And be as tall as one," Jack added snidely.

"And they never have any time for you," I weighed in. "Bobby and I have all the time we want."

"Ya," Goren laughed. "You gotta explain it to me, man, because I just don't get it."

"I just like'em," he shrugged.

"Why? Because they treat you bad?" Goren laughed. "You got a secret you want to share?"

"No," Jack shook his head in frustration.

"So what, then? Are they really good in the sack?" Goren kept pushing.

"I – well," Jack sputtered.

At that point Goren leaned over and whispered something in Jack's ear that I couldn't hear. "Is that what models are like in bed?"

"Um, I really, well..." Jack was completely flustered.

"If you're shy around my partner, just whisper it to me," Goren leaned toward him, but Jack remained stone-faced. "I don't think he's actually slept with a model," Goren's tone was mocking.

"I've slept with plenty of them," Jack's tone was defiant.

"One night stands?" I offered.

"Yeah," he agreed readily.

"None of them were girlfriend material?" I continued.

"Nah," he sneered.

"Why not?" Goren wanted to know. "Did you ask them out again and they turned you down."

"No," Jack was getting angry.

"I was right," Goren slammed his hand on the table, startling Jack. I'd known it was coming. "It's because they're too much trouble, isn't it?"

"Well," Jack paused.

"C'mon," Goren egged him on. "They walk around barely dressed, like they own the world and they see a nice guy like you and they take advantage. Don't they, Jack?"

He nodded in response.

"They ask you for favors. 'Do this for me, do that for me.'" Goren stood up. "Am I right?"

Jack nodded again, his eyes wide. He seemed surprised that Goren understood him.

"And you're happy to do things for them and then you two talk and laugh and she tells you all of her little secrets," Goren paced behind him.

"Sure," Jack agreed.

"And then you ask for one little thing and she looks at you like you have three eyes. What gives her the right?" Goren sounded indignant.

Jack kept nodding along as Goren ranted.

"After everything you did for her? Brought her coffee, brought her water, listening to her incessant chattering about her good-for-nothing boyfriend," Goren continued. "What do they expect?" he held up his hands. "You deserve a little something after everything you've done, right?"

"Right," Jack agreed.

"It's perfectly reasonable," I concurred with both of them.

"And then they have the nerve to blow you off? When all you're doing is trying to be nice?" Goren looked like it confused him too.

"Ya," Jack was agreeing with everything Goren said.

"Like they freak out when you ask them for a coffee, after you brought them, like ten coffees."

"Ya," Jack snorted.

"Or get all weird when you offer them a ride home, like you did with Carolann Moffat?" Goren went in for the kill.

"She looked at me like I was nuts," Jack laughed.

"Did she?" Goren had become quiet again.

"I –uh," Jack's blink rate was on the rise again.

"She was walking home from a party. She'd just broken up with her boyfriend," Goren pulled out his chair and sat down. "You saw her and offered her a ride home."

Jack just looked at us. He had no idea what was happening to him.

"What did she do that was so bad you had to do this to her?" Goren pulled a picture out of his case and put it in front of Jack.

Jack stared at the photo of Carolann's body, lying where he'd dumped her.

"This means nothing," he shook his head. "So I offered her a ride," he shrugged defiantly.

"And failed to mention it to the police when she went missing. She never made it home from that party," Goren pointed out.

"I thought they'd get the wrong idea," he defended himself.

"Or the right one," I huffed.

"I'm leaving," he stood up.

"No you're not," Goren pushed him back down.

"John Harrison, you're under arrest for the murder of Carolann Moffat," I informed him.

"No," he shook his head, not reacting to my use of his real name. "No, I'll tell your boss that you two are fucking. I will, I'll tell."

"Watch your mouth," Goren told him angrily. "Go ahead and tell," he beckoned Deakins and Carver to join us.

John stared at us in bewilderment.

"Go ahead." Goren repeated when the door opened. "Tell them the big secret."

John remained seated in stunned silence.

"If you knew what people are really feeling, you would've seen through my lie," Goren chuckled derisively. "When I told you we were sleeping together, you thought Eames was angry," Goren rolled his eyes. "She wasn't angry, she was surprised and you couldn't tell the difference." Goren laughed at him. "Carolann was upset. She'd just broken up with her boyfriend. She would've accepted your comfort, but you thought she was disgusted with you."

"This proves nothing," John was breathing hard.

"We have your DNA from the coffee cup," I reminded him. "Maybe if you'd been smart enough to wear a condom..."

"They were sluts, all of them," Jack's face was bright red. "How dare they ignore me? Treat me like garbage. They got what they deserved."

"They deserved to be raped and murdered because you misinterpreted their emotions?" I looked at him in disbelief.

Goren hauled John up by his uniform jacket. "You're also under arrest for the murder of Sylvie Gagnon, Anca Schmidt, Charmaine Willis and Simone Saunders," he turned John around and pressed him up against the mirror. After kicking John's legs apart, he reached his hand back, tacitly asking for my cuffs.

"And once we sort out jurisdiction and look into some suspicious missing persons cases," I took John by the arm. "There'll be a lot more charges to come."

Once we had him in holding, we started on the paperwork. Carver said we'd be able to have him arraigned after lunch. Before heading to the courthouse, I called Carolann's mother and let her know we'd arrested John Harrison. Goren called Rodgers. Although Goren and I regularly went to trials, we rarely went to arraignments. For this one we made an exception. Rodgers met us there and to my surprise, so did Deakins. We were expecting John Harrison to be remanded and we weren't disappointed.

While Goren and I had established that I wasn't an alcoholic, I was beginning to wonder about Rodgers. She invited us out for another drink once we'd left the courthouse. This time she chose the bar. It was called The Edge of Reason. It was 4 o'clock when I was parking my car, but I could hear the bar before I could see it.

Rodgers and Deakins already had a table and waved to me when I walked in. Goren startled me by appearing next to me as I walked to the table.

"I didn't see you there," I yelled at him.

"What?" he yelled back.

I waved him off. I'd always had a hard time being heard in bars. I was glad they'd chosen a table instead of a booth. I wouldn't have to worry about not touching Goren. Even though we were there to celebrate the arrest we'd made, from what I could hear, the conversation was mostly small talk. When Rodgers asked me why I was so quiet, I had to shout my answer four times to be understood. I'd decided to have a glass of wine as a treat and as soon as it was done, I stood up and waved my goodbye. I don't think I've ever been that happy to get to the street during rush hour.

My normal half hour drive took me almost an hour and Goren managed to beat me home somehow. I'd planned to ask him what route he took when I got inside, but he had other plans. My shirt was open and his hand was under my bra almost before I had the door closed. He began to plunder my mouth as he moved us to the living room.

"Hi," I smiled when he paused for a breath.

"I missed you," he returned my smile before pulling us both to the couch.

"We've been together all day," I reminded him.

"Not the kind of together I wanted," his eyes darkened as his lips sought mine again.

I was startled out of my Goren-induced reverie by a knock at my front door. We looked at each other questioningly, having no idea who might be there. My family and friends always called first because of my schedule. At the sound of a second knock, I fixed my bra and buttoned my shirt back up. When I moved the blind to look outside, I was surprised to see Deakins standing there.

"Captain," I said loudly as I opened the door. "Is anything wrong?"

"I need to talk to both of you," he didn't look happy as he stepped inside.

"Both of us?" I tried to sound confused.

"Don't bother, Alex," he sighed. "Goren's car is outside and you buttoned your blouse back up wrong."

I looked down to discover that he was right. "C'mon in," I led him to the living room feeing mortified. I wasn't sure what we were in for, but I couldn't imagine a single positive outcome.

Goren was sitting on the couch with his forehead resting on his left hand. He watched as Deakins took a seat in the chair opposite the couch. No one said anything as I sat down beside Goren.

"I don't even know where to start," Deakins sighed.

Goren and I remained silent.

"How long?" he looked at me.

"A week," I overstated. It had really only been six days.

"A week?" he repeated with a laugh. "Not as bad as I thought, but you still should have come to me right away," he sounded the way my father had when he was disappointed in my behaviour.

"How did you figure it out?" Goren, of course, was curious.

"A lot of things," Deakins was now rubbing his forehead. "The two of you did a lot of off duty talking about this case. Bobby was suddenly seeing someone and your little act may have fooled your suspect, but you aren't the only one who can read body language," he was looking at Goren.

"So, now what?" Goren's bluntness surprised me.

"So now, nothing," Deakins shook his head. "This is one of those things the brass will ignore until they want to use it against you," he informed us. "I'll deny it, if I'm asked, unless someone shows me a picture and I really don't want to see any pictures. Am I making myself clear?"

I didn't say anything. I felt like I'd been caught making out underneath the bleachers and I hated being lectured to. Goren seemed to be taking it all in stride. He was more used to being chewed out then I was.

"Don't put me in this position again, understood?" he stood up. "If I'm gonna go to bat for you, you need to keep me in the loop."

"Got it," Goren answered. I simply nodded.

"And you seem to be fooling everyone else and I'd like to keep it that way, okay?" he started to leave.

"Yes, Captain," I took a deep breath as I stood up to walk him out.

"And before I forget," he turned around again. "Good work on this one."

"Did he just give us his blessing?" Goren stood up when I returned, amazement in his voice.

I had to stand on my toes to put my arms around his neck.

"I think he did."

end


End file.
